J Clin Med Res

Journal of Clinical Medicine Research, ISSN 1918-3003 print, 1918-3011 online, Open Access

Article copyright, the authors; Journal compilation copyright, J Clin Med Res and Elmer Press Inc

Journal website http://www.jocmr.org

Original Article

Volume 7, Number 2, February 2015, pages 71-75

Implementation of Continuous Capnography Is Associated With a Decreased Utilization of Blood Gases

Figure

Figure 1. Mean blood gases per day are displayed for each month of the years 2009, 2010, and 2011. It is noted that the average blood gas utilization per day is consistently lower in each month of 2011 than in the preceding 2 years.

Tables

**Table 1.** Summary of Changes in Blood Gas Analysis Over a 3-Year Period
	April-September 2009	April-September 2010	April-September 2011	P value
P values obtained from a one-way ANOVA.
Total number of blood gases analyzed	12,937	13,171	8,070	0.001
Average number of blood gases per patient encounter	20.8 (3.8)	21.6 (1.4)	13.8 (1.7)	< 0.0001
Average number of blood gases per ventilator day	4.94 (0.79)	4.76 (0.75)	3.30 (0.79)	0.004

**Table 2.** Summary of Changes in Blood Gas Charges Over a 3-Year Period (Mean, Standard Deviation (Median))
	Charges April-September				Charges in 2010 - 2009		P-value
	2009	2010	2011 actual*	2011 converted^#	Actual savings	Converted savings	Actual	Converted
Values are means ± standard deviation. Medians are displayed in parenthesis. P values obtained from a one-way ANOVA. *2011 actual are the actual charges for blood gases during the study time period April-September. #2011 converted are the charges re-calculated using the lower 2010 charge per blood gas, i.e. the charge, if there had not been an increase in the price of a blood gas between 2010 and 2011.
Total charge of blood gases analyzed	$2,207,804	$2,261,051	$1,544,360	$1,380, 556	$716,691	$880,495	0.02	0.005
Charge of blood gas analysis per ventilator day	$839 ± 172 ($830)	$817 ± 129 ($825)	$631 ± 150 ($631)	$564 ± 134 ($564)	$186	$253	0.06	0.009
Charge of blood gas analysis per patient encounter	$3,522 ± 241 ($3,242)	$3,716 ± 241 ($3,695)	$2,649 ± 328 ($2,589)	$2,368 ± 293 ($2,313)	$1,067	$1,348	0.007	0.001