can some one help please :)
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Mountain Res-Q
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1. Select appropriate sized cuff and wrap around the patient's upper arm (you want the artery marking to line up with the brachial artery but if you do not have these then line the tube for the gauge up with the artery)
2. Palpate the brachial pulse
3. Palpate the distal pulse in the wrist; the name escapes me right now
4. Inflate the cuff until you can no longer feel the pulse
5. Place the diaphragm of the stetoscope over where you palpated the brachial pulse
6. Slowly deflate the cuff until you hear the pulse, that is systolic pressure
7. Diastolic pressure is when the pulse you heard can no longer be heard (wow that doesn't make good sense does it?)
2. Palpate the brachial pulse
3. Palpate the distal pulse in the wrist; the name escapes me right now
4. Inflate the cuff until you can no longer feel the pulse
5. Place the diaphragm of the stetoscope over where you palpated the brachial pulse
6. Slowly deflate the cuff until you hear the pulse, that is systolic pressure
7. Diastolic pressure is when the pulse you heard can no longer be heard (wow that doesn't make good sense does it?)
judoka5446
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Like that.
medichopeful
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Are you thinking of the radial pulse?
Alternatively, you can inflate it to about 200 or 220 mmHg
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Smash
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VFFforpeople
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If your pt is that high..they are in trouble..I go 180-200.
If you want a quick easy way to do it. Place diaphragm in where the blood usually gets drawn. (if you want medical terms..lol it is to early). pump cuff up 180-200. If you have to go higher than that to hear it you should be en route. you will hear the thump, then it will go away. remeber where you first hear it and last heard it and you are good.
Smash
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guardian528
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these are the kind of posts that are ruining this website. stop trying to pick a fight. obviously, it is not less important to accurately assess them if they are more sick. he never said that, and he didn't imply that. you're pulling things out of thin air, and the only thing its doing is stirring people up. stay on topic to the thread, if it ain't about how to take a bp, then don't post it.
Smash
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VFFforpeople said:
He/she states that even with a patient who may have a systolic blood pressure in excess of 300mmHg, he/she inflates the cuff to 180-200mmHg. It's explicitly stated, I don't have to infer it at all. In a thread asking about how to take a blood pressure I would have thought that imparting information on how to do it properly would be appropriate.
If I wanted to pick a fight, I would point out things like the lack of capitalization at the start of sentences. But I don't, so I won't.
have a nice day
medichopeful
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True. If I do my method (I didn't invent it, my instructor told me to do it) and I DON'T hear the systolic at any point, I'd switch arms and do it the other way.
Smash
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I like MrBrowns method of palpating until you lose the radial. Then at least you have a reasonably accurate idea of the systolic if you can't hear for some reason. I also watch for the needle bounce whilst ascultating.
BossyCow
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I usually ask the pt if they know what their blood pressure is normally and then go a bit above that. I have extremely low blood pressure and remember when my husband was first learning and practicing on me. He'd inflate that cuff until I thought my fingers were going to explode!
Also a good idea
medichopeful
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I do that, but be careful. Sometimes it starts to bounce BEFORE you get to the systolic. For example, I was practicing on somebody the other day, and it started bouncing at a rather high number, which clearly was not correct because I heard the systolic a bit later.
JPINFV
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Why go up to 200 unless you think that it's that high and cause unneeded pain? Let me put a cuff on your arm and run up that high. Wouldn't it be more logical to go to something closer to normal range, like 140-160, and if you can hear korotkoff sound then go higher?
Shishkabob
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Go until you can't hear the sounds anymore, then go another 1-2 squeezes.
medichopeful
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I've had it run up that high on me. It's not comfortable, but it's not too bad.
That is the way my instructor told me to do it. Remember, if I you start to go down rather quickly, it won't be uncomfortable for very long.
Shishkabob
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Again, WHY go that high? The vast majority of people you'll see won't be that high.
Granted, there are the exceptions. I had a pt who skipped dialysis for a week and had a systolic of over 220.
But use your brain. If it's frail granny with arms the size of pencils, chances are she's not above a 160... if that. If it's someone with a hx of hypertension, then yes you may have to go up to 200+.
Granted, there are the exceptions. I had a pt who skipped dialysis for a week and had a systolic of over 220.
But use your brain. If it's frail granny with arms the size of pencils, chances are she's not above a 160... if that. If it's someone with a hx of hypertension, then yes you may have to go up to 200+.