Ultrasound Guided Arterial Puncture

Ultrasound Guided Arterial Puncture: a Prospective, Blinded, Randomised Controlled Trial.

The main purpose of the study is to evaluate whether the routine use of ultrasound guided arterial puncture can increase the proportion of patients who only needs one puncture attempt in order to successfully extract enough blood to make an arterial blood gas analysis, when ultrasound guided arterial puncture is compared to conventional arterial puncture technique.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient admitted or treated in the acute emergency department
• Indication for a arterial blood gas analysis, according to the physician responsible for the patient's hospital stay / treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient age < 16 years