Respiratory alkalosis happens when you breathe too fast and blow off too much CO₂, raising blood pH above 7.4. Normal pH is 7.35 to 7.45 and PaCO₂ is 35 to 45 mm Hg. Fever, pain, panic attacks, and mechanical ventilation can all trigger hyperventilation.
In this video, we're talking about respiratory alkalosis. You can finally understand what it means, what causes it, and what you actually need to know about it for nursing school. Before we get started, make sure that you hit that subscribe button and click on the notification bell so you never miss any other nursing school tips and tricks that I've got for you. Now, let's do it. So respiratory alkalosis is one of four main categories you need to know about as you're studying arterial blood gases in nursing school. You also have metabolic alkalosis, metabolic acidosis, and respiratory acidosis. We're gonna talk about the other three in the other videos in this series, so if you want a breakdown of those, be sure to check those other videos out after this video. Now, respiratory alkalosis simply means one thing. The lungs got a little carried away with breathing. When you see the word respiratory, when it refers to ABGs, I want you to think of the lungs. During respiratory alkalosis, the lungs are the problem. We call them the party poopers. The lungs are the ones causing the respiratory alkalosis to occur. Now, alkalosis means the blood is more alkaline or more basic than normal. It's more basic than it is acidic. And you can find this out by looking at the PH value on your patient's arterial blood gas panel, or ABG panel. Now, a normal pH value is between 7.35 and 7.45. When the pH is less than 7.4, it's more acidic. When the pH is greater than 7.4, it's MORE basic or more alkaline. So during respiratory respiratory alkalosis, the blood is more alkaline, meaning more basic. So the PH is greater than 7.4. So here's what's happening. During respiratory alkalosis, the lungs are getting a little bit carried away with breathing and they're giving off too much CO2. If you remember from our previous video on respiratory acidosis, CO2 stands for carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide is an acid. Now, usually as you breathe, the lungs pull in oxygen and let out CO2. There needs to be a proper balance of carbon dioxide to help balance the PH level in the blood. Too much carbon dioxide causes the blood to be more acidic. Too little carbon dioxide causes the blood to be more basic or more alkaline. That's exactly what's going on here. In respiratory alkalosis, the lungs are letting go of way too much carbon dioxide, which means that they're letting go of too much acid. And this causes the blood to be more basic or alkaline, which causes the PH to then increase. When you interpret arterial blood gas panels or ABG panels, the number you're looking for Here is the PACO2. This stands for the partial pressure of carbon dioxide and it tells you how much CO2 is in the blood. A normal Paco 2 is between 35 to 45 millimeters mercury. This is pretty easy to remember because it looks just like the normal PH value just without the 7. So it's pretty easy to remember. A normal ph value is 7.35 to 7.45 and a normal Paco 2 is between between 35 and 45. Now here my friend is what your nursing instructor love to test you on the causes of respiratory alkalosis and I have good news and I've got bad news for you. The good news is there's only one main underlying cause of respiratory alkalosis and that is an increase in respiratory rate or hyperventilation. The bad news is that a whole lot of things can cause an increased respiratory rate. Things like a fever, pain, mechanical ventilation, panic attacks and pretty much anything else that leads to hyperventilation. So when you're faced with a nursing school exam question about the causes of respiratory alkalosis, take a breath, put on your critical thinking cap and remember that the underlying cause of respiratory alkalosis is hyperventilation and losing too much carbon dioxide from the lungs. Now if you are struggling with how to interpret ABGs and just wish that someone would walk you through it, I have got you covered my friend. I've got a free cheat sheet and a video for you which is where I walk you through arterial blood gas interpretation step by step. I put that link to the cheat sheet down below as well as the video for that in the description for you to check it out. And if this video helped you out to understand respiratory alkalosis better, write love in the comments below. I cannot wait to hear from you. Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be and I will see you in the next video.
