Hi, this is Dr. Barone at baronox.com. Got another good mnemonic for you. This time about acid-base. Students have a lot of trouble with it, so here's a quick and dirty way to remember is it metabolic or is it respiratory?
This is by Dr. Cook. Okay, well I had a whole bunch of problems with this when I first started things are going up things are going down They're going sideways. It's really hard to remember But I figured out a basics a basic system using two letters that are easy to remember that guarantee T'd will get you the correct answer. So the first letter of MD stands for metabolic and then the second one is direct.
Metabolic, direct. What does that mean, right? So when you look at pH and you look at CO2, when they're both up or both down, when they're directly related to each other, it is metabolic.
always. Okay, and when they're inversed they're respiratory. So let's do some examples.
So, pH down, it's an acidosis, everyone knows that. So then let's say CO2 is down too. They're both down, it's metabolic. Oh, it's that easy! So pH is up, CO2 also up, metabolic.
So metabolic acidosis, metabolic alkalosis. So pH is down, and then let's change it. CO2 is up. So those are inversely related.
Respiratory. pH up, CO2 is down, still inversely related. Respiratory. It's that easy. Wow, you can't get easier than that.
So if the pH and the CO2 are in the same direction, it's metabolic. If they're opposite directions, know it's respiratory. You can't get it easier than that.
Thank you, Dr. Cook. Appreciate it.