Anybody have any tips for getting reliable readings consistently from a transcutaneous CO2 monitor???
Last night, taking care of a 2 week-old former 26+6 weeker, I was ready to kill the TCM.
The last gas on dayshift had a CO2/TCCO2 correlation of +2 (53/51). At 4 pm, I re-callibrated the sensor and changed the site. Membrane looked fine, so left it alone as I have gotten really wacky readings after re-membraning (now I re-cal at least 3 times in a row after re-membraning...)
Next ABG to be at 5pm. TCCO2 climbed from 50s to 60s and gas was delayed until 5:30 pm due to brief brady/desat (gave her time to recover). TCCO2 at time of gas reading 64 CO2 on gas = 50. OKAY, crappy correlation.
7pm, I change site (no re-cal -we usually only do it q shift). TCM reading 57-69 over next 3 hours. Next gas 10 pm: TCCO2 64 again), ABG: 63.
Changed site again after the 10pm gas and TCCO2s in sixties. Report at 11 pm: TCCO2 starts dropping to the mid 40s. I'll find out this afternoon what the 12mn gas was...
What am I doing wrong??? :confused: