Taking blood pressure for neonates and infant

Specialties Pediatric

Published

Dear all

I had a problem when taking blood pressure with blood pressure machine.

I'm still new i pediatric ward. There must be some tips or technique in taking blood pressure for them. The most important thing is i want to know how to put the cuff blood pressure at the right position at the leg.

Specializes in PICU, Sedation/Radiology, PACU.

1. Take blood pressure when the child is calm. If the child is fussy, irritable, of moving their limb at all, you are going to get an abnormal reading. Swaddle the baby, hold them, give them a pacifier, etc. to calm them down before you try to take their blood pressure.

2. You apply a blood pressure cuff the same way on the leg as you do the arm. But rather than lining up the arrow on the cuff with the brachial artery, line it up with the posterior tibial artery.

3. Make sure your cuff is an appropriate size. Too small or too big will give you abnormal reading. If you're unsure about a result, recheck on a different limb or with a different cuff.

Thank you for your advice...i try my best to do it....

I always try to do my BPs on kids when they're asleep. Sneak the cuff on them and get the BP before touching them for anything else. Once they wake up, you're screwed.

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