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

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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)

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Can you be more specific/ show examples?

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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.

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Great, thank you.

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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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