Before the arterial blood gas test, they may apply pressure to the arteries in your wrist for several seconds ... an artery typically hurts more than drawing it from a vein.

The gold standard and most accurate way of testing whether a person has normal oxygen levels is to stick a needle into a person’s wrist and draw blood. An arterial blood draw, as it’s called ...

The PaO2 is one of the components measured in an arterial ... draw. Dress comfortably for a PaO2 test. Often, blood is drawn from the radial artery, which runs along the inner surface of the wrist.