Abdominal Girths

[LuvaBSNRN, BSN, RN]

Is this measurement a thing of the past in some NICUs??? I am a travel RN currently on assignment in TX and I was wondering why there was nowhere to chart abd girths. I was told the Neos did not feel that this was an accurate indication of anything and relying on clinical presentation was more useful. Are you all seeing this any where else??

[babyNP., APRN]

Nope, we still use it. Now, it's not the WHOLE picture. I tell new nurses to ask themselves, "Are there bowel sounds? hypo/hyper? Is the belly still soft? Is it tender? Is it distended? Is it dusky? Is there anything different than the last time you saw it? What did the previous nurse tell you about it? Has the affect of the baby changed?" with that in mind, going up by .5 cm compared to the other nurse and everything else stable happens quite frequently because everyone is going to measure just a little bit differently.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We still do...we watch the trend over our shift. It may only mean they need to take a poop, but when it goes way up, then that is pretty indicitive of something. It is written in our routine care protocol that we have to measure the girth at least every 4 hours.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

We measure every cares here as well, and in the pedi cardiac ICU we also measure anyone under 2 with every cares. NEC is also a common issue in these cardiac kiddos who go without gut perfusion and then reperfusion injuries after cardiac repair. Like others have said girth isn't the whole picture but ifyour girth goes up 4cm in 3 hours it definitely makes a case

[bmsrn]

We still do. I have a relative whose a NICU nurse and her hospital does not- something about evidence based practice. Everyone measures differently though, so I usually compare my measurements. Our policy isn't set in stone, definitely not every 4 hours. Some kids I do it once a shift, others I do it twice a shift.

[nicubabies4me]

We don't measure - but look at all clinical signs. I had a baby in our developmental room that presented without any signs, but had orange mucous threads in her stool. Called the practitioner, got an x-ray, and it was stage 1 nec. Can't ever trust a nicu baby, even once they've moved to the feeder/grower room.

[Babies>Adults]

We do if a kid is on NEC watch or has NEC but for every other baby, we just keep a keen eye on all of the other clinical signs.

[KayceNICURN]

Only do abd measurements on NEC babies or babies with ascites.