Nurses General Nursing
Published Jan 24, 2002
CPHaggertySmykl
2 Posts
oramar
5,758 Posts
But venous blood is a lot darker than arterial blood, my guess is that venous blood still has some oxygen in it and that is why it is not blue. By the way most nurses have drawn arterial blood and seen that same dark color, it causes our hearts to sink. It means that the patients gases are going to be bad and is in every bit as much trouble as we feared.
Stargazer
859 Posts
Oramar's right. Normal arterial blood should have 95 - 100% oxygen saturation. Normal venous blood will still be about 50 -70% saturated.