Seishin, The pulmonology nurses, in my experience, are the BEST at doing ABG's. But any nurse should be able to perform one. They can be painful due to all of the nerves they have to go through to get to the artery but it's a doable pain.

Good one, Alice. They don't teach "pathophysiology" in med school anymore, like you said. Well, some do but not many. It's very sad. I've read some really old books where they go into excruciating detail of a patient's condition. It was fascinating.

Celeste, That's a good point. It sounds like Seishin's BP is normally low, so that was a pretty huge jump!

I'm sorry for your experience too, Israel. An ER doctor once told me that they don't diagnose in the ER, they only "manage symptoms." Sounds like an excuse to me since they diagnose broken bones, strokes and so many other conditions.

Annie