Blood & Oxygen Transport for Anesthesia Technicians

Blood and oxygen transport physiology helps anesthesia technicians and technologists understand how oxygen moves from the lungs into the blood and is delivered to tissues throughout the body. These concepts provide an important foundation for understanding oxygen saturation, hemoglobin, cardiac output, pulse oximetry, and patient monitoring during anesthesia.

This lesson covers hemoglobin and oxygen binding, oxygen saturation, arterial oxygen content, oxygen delivery, the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve, and the major ways carbon dioxide is transported in the blood. Clinical examples connect these concepts with pulse oximetry, ventilation, anemia, cardiac output, and assessment of oxygen delivery in the anesthesia environment.