Welcome ECC Nerds! Thanks for stopping by.
I've made myself a few AI tools to make everyday practice a bit easier, and this blood gas assistant is one of my favourites. I hope you find it useful too.
Before we jump into blood gas - we have a conference special for access to our RACE approved clinical podcasts, where you can access more than 500 episodes on Small Animal Medicine, Surgery and ECC content, including our beautiful show notes to refer back to, and access to our exclusive network of Vet Vault Nerds. IVECCS attendees can get access for 30% less than the normal price - that's less than $100 per year for access to hours and hours of CE content that you'll actually want to consume. Claim your discount here.
Access the Blood Gas Assistant here (It's totally free)
A quick note about what this is
This is an AI assistant that draws its knowledge on a bunch of resources that I gave it - mainly show notes from episodes we did on blood gas, and chapters from the Silverstein and Hopper ECC book. I don't use it to replace what I know, but rather to check me, to make sure I don't miss anything important, and to ask questions about any findings that I don't understand. (Basically - as a fast and smart search tool.) I've found it very accurate, and great for helping me think of dd's and understanding any unusual changes on my blood results. But you're still the one with contextual knowledge, so the final decisions about your cases should still lie with you!
How to use it
Type in "New Sample". The assistant will request your results in a particular order, like pH, CO2, Na+ etc etc. You can just type the values in the correct order, eg 7.18, 44, 120. etc etc - no need to add units. Or just copy/paste your results. You'll get a detailed analysis with some thoughts on differentials and next steps. The answer will include the reference ranges that I gave the assistant, which is the range that we use where I work. Keep this in mind if your blood gas machine has very different reference ranges.
You can also add your case history, eg "8 month old puppy with 3 days of vomiting showing clinical signs of dehydration" to give it more context, which will yield better results. And you can ask follow up questions, like "I don't understand why the bicarb is low. Do you have possible explanations?" Have a play and test its capabilities. (But remember - you're still the vet!)
How to access it
There are two ways to access this assistant.
1. If you are a paid ChatGPT user you can use this link to use it on ChatGPT. I personally prefer this, because I can use the ChatGPT app on my phone to take a photo of my blood results, instead of typing it in, and I like that I can use the voice function to chat to it. I also feel like this one is a bit 'smarter' with it's answers.
2. If you're not a ChatGPT user you can access it by signing up below. (It's free - you're paying with your email address so we can send you 4 follow-up emails about how the Vet Vault can help you in practice!) Once subscribed you will have unlimited access to the link without the need to have a ChatGPT account.
Enjoy!