{"id":138300,"date":"2024-09-14T09:49:52","date_gmt":"2024-09-14T09:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=138300"},"modified":"2024-09-14T09:49:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T09:49:54","slug":"a-nurse-is-reviewing-the-arterial-blood-gas-abg-results-of-a-client-who-the-provider-suspects-has-metabolic-acidosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/14\/a-nurse-is-reviewing-the-arterial-blood-gas-abg-results-of-a-client-who-the-provider-suspects-has-metabolic-acidosis\/","title":{"rendered":"A nurse is reviewing the arterial blood gas (ABG) results of a client who the provider suspects has metabolic acidosis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A nurse is reviewing the arterial blood gas (ABG) results of a client who the provider suspects has metabolic acidosis. Which of the following results should the nurse expect to see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A.<br>HCO3 above 26 mEq\/L<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>B.<br>PaCO2 above 45 mm Hg<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C.<br>PaO2 below 70 mm Hg<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D.<br>pH below 7.35<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-6-color\"><strong>The correct answer and Explanation is :<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The correct answer is <strong>D. pH below 7.35<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Metabolic acidosis<\/strong> occurs when there is an excess of acid in the body or a loss of bicarbonate (HCO\u2083\u207b), leading to a decrease in the body&#8217;s pH levels. The normal pH range for the human body is between 7.35 and 7.45. A pH below 7.35 indicates <strong>acidosis<\/strong>. Since metabolic acidosis is a disturbance in the body\u2019s bicarbonate buffer system, the pH falls as the concentration of bicarbonate decreases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Breakdown of the ABG components:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>pH below 7.35<\/strong>: This is the hallmark of acidosis. A pH lower than 7.35 indicates that the body is in an acidic state. In metabolic acidosis, the low pH results from either a loss of bicarbonate (HCO\u2083\u207b) or an accumulation of hydrogen ions (H\u207a) in the blood due to the presence of excess acids.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>HCO\u2083 (Bicarbonate)<\/strong>: In metabolic acidosis, <strong>HCO\u2083 is typically below 22 mEq\/L<\/strong> (normal range is 22-26 mEq\/L). This decrease signifies that there is either a loss of bicarbonate or an increase in acid that is consuming bicarbonate as a buffer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PaCO\u2082<\/strong>: This measures the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. In primary metabolic acidosis, PaCO\u2082 is usually normal or low, as the respiratory system compensates by hyperventilating (breathing rapidly) to blow off CO\u2082. A high PaCO\u2082 would suggest respiratory acidosis, not metabolic acidosis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>PaO\u2082<\/strong>: While PaO\u2082 measures the oxygen level in the blood, it does not directly indicate metabolic acidosis. A low PaO\u2082 would indicate hypoxemia, which is unrelated to metabolic acidosis specifically.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, in the case of metabolic acidosis, the key expectation is a <strong>pH below 7.35<\/strong>, signifying an acidic environment. Other findings like a low bicarbonate level confirm the metabolic cause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A nurse is reviewing the arterial blood gas (ABG) results of a client who the provider suspects has metabolic acidosis. Which of the following results should the nurse expect to see? A.HCO3 above 26 mEq\/L B.PaCO2 above 45 mm Hg C.PaO2 below 70 mm Hg D.pH below 7.35 The correct answer and Explanation is : [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}