HELP!!!Icu nurse question. CVP/PA waveform

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello everyone! I really need help with this question! Thank you.

What is the interpretation of CVP and PA pressure waveform with respiratory variation? ( position of the waveform during inhalation vs exhalation during spontaneous breathing vs mechanical. Ventilation)

Can you be more specific/ show examples?

Not sure exactly what youre asking.

But generally, assuming your patient is intubated, you may see the normal waveform tidalling gently up during a patient's inspiratory phase and tidalling down during and toward the end of the exploratory phase.

This is because the intrathorasic pressure is highest at the end of the inspiratory phase of a relaxed vented patient (and lowest at the end of the expiratory phase), and an increase to the general pressure inside a patient's chest can push on the walls of a patient's vena cava, heart, or pulmonary ateries, raising the pressure in those spaces as well.

Great, thank you.

Specializes in Critical Care and ED.

Here's an article that discusses respiratory variation with PA waveforms, if it helps:

https://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1957.10.1.31

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