Difference Between Waveform Capnography

Waveform capnography to today’s paramedic is what it felt like with the invention of the washing machine becoming available to generations of people who grew up using a wash board. Now that people have a machine to do the work for them, they cannot imagine going back to hand washing. The same holds true for capnography. Now having real-time feedback of patient conditions, providers cannot conceive going back to the delayed readings of pulse oximetry. The hope for medical professionals is that “60 days, 60 weeks, and 60 years from now all providers cannot imagine life without capnography.” (Thibeault. 2015). This irreplaceable tool is used to prove that blood is going round and round the body and air is going in and out of the body efficiently enough to sustain life. Multiple studies and research have proven time and time again the importance and dependability of end-tidal carbon dioxide, ETCO2, in the reading of waveform capnography for medical professionals to verify an advanced airway placement and/or to determine return of spontaneous circulation, ROSC, in cardiac arrest. Waveform capnography provides objective, continuous confirmation of airway location and immediate feedback if advanced tubes are improperly inserted. (Thibeault. 2015).