Analysis of blood gas can be a daunting task, but it is still one of the most helpful laboratory tests in managing respiratory and metabolic disorders. Busy medical students have struggled ineffectively with Hasselbach’s modification of the Henderson equation, been torn between the Copenhagen and the Boston schools of thought; and lately, been confronted with the radically different strong-ion approach.

In modern medical practice, the health provider’s time is precious, stressing the importance of retaining focus on those aspects of clinical medicine that truly matter. It makes sense to adopt an ‘algorithmic’ approach to studying topics that are often harder to understand, such as those rooted in clinical physiology. This book is therefore set out in the form of a logical sequence of flow charts, introducing and gradually building upon the underlying concepts and enabling greater opportunity to memorize individual concepts. It enables medical students, residents, nurses and respiratory care and intensive care practitioners to grasp the principles underlying respiratory and acid-base physiology quickly and to apply the concepts effectively in clinical decision making. To facilitate this, almost every section contained within has been designed to fit onto a single page.

Nurses and physicians in pulmonology and critical care, internal medicine, anaesthesia/ ICU; medical internists, pulmonologists, anaesthesists, critical care physicians, respiratory therapists