Informed Consent

Informed consent means doing the following:

• Identifying yourself at time of patient encounter by stating who you are and from which department you work
• Stating clearly that you intend to draw an arterial blood sample from the patient.

You may at this time reassure your patient that Arterial Blood Sampling is a relatively common procedure and that you are trained to perform it.

Patient monitoring includes documenting the patient's condition (vital signs), her or his current therapy, any problems encountered in obtaining the sample, and in general, the following:

1. FIO2 (analyzed) or prescribed flow rate
2. Proper application of patient device (e.g., mask or cannula)
3. Mode of supported ventilation and relevant ventilator settings
4. Pulsatile blood return
5. Presence or absence of air bubbles or clots in syringe or sample
6. Patient's respiratory rate and patient's temperature
7. Position and/or level of activity (if other than resting)
8. Notable difficulty with blood sampling if such occurs
9. Appearance of puncture site after direct pressure has been applied and before application of pressure dressing for potential Hematoma formation (a detailed protocol for post sampling management should be in place)

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