BP on Pediatric Patient?

[blinks14]

Let me first start by saying I am a new grad and know I have plenty to learn. I have NOT started my first position as a graduate nurse, I will begin that in August. I am currently working as a nursing assistant at a small facility where I have been for almost 2 years, I have been a nursing assistant in total for about 4 years and also worked in telemetry. My new job is at a different facility.

I work with at the most 3 other nurses on my shift. On a rare occasion we have pediatric patients. They are all post-surgical patients. I have a question concerning routine blood pressures on pediatric patients, I was taught as a general rule of thumb there is no need for routine BP on a patient under the age 8. A seasoned nurse insisted that I am wrong (she enjoys being a bully and everyone is usually wrong about everything ). Unfortunately, we do not have a policy on this at my facility. What is the age you use as a cut off or is there even one at all?

Thanks for your information!

[chinBSN_RN]

I am not sure about that rule, I am now working on a grant and one of our goals is to start screening peds 3 years and older for hypertension. There is a lot of studies right now for pediatric hypertension, according to the experts,most of the affected children have cardiorenal disease resulting to secondary forms of hypertension, however, diopathic or essential hypertension, for which there is no identifiable cause, clearly may begin in early childhood.

Hope this helps.:nuke:

[AussieTina]

I am a grad on a paed ward in Australia.

We do the BP when they are first admitted, but not after that unless ordered to by the docs.

[texas2007, BSN, RN]

Well I work in a nicu so I couldn't tell you the avg pedi BP, but we do either q4 or q6 BP's on the babies. They can have hypertension or hypotension just like anybody else... But either way doesn't the DR. usually order "vitals q whatever"?

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I work at a children's hospital. When I float to the floor the kids either have their BPs Q8 hours or Q12 hours.

[stelarRN]

I'm not sure about how often post surgery, but I work at a pediatric clinic and we usually start doing BPs at their 2 year well checks.

[*ac*]

We try to get BP q4 on all pts, neonates to 21 yo. It's only policy to get one bp q12 under age 2. It can be hard - you have to have the right size cuff and for babies, it's better to have special equipment.

[SweetTeaRN, BSN, RN]

I work in an ED, and as a new grad, I have asked the same question of my preceptors. I do not know if my facility has a P&P on this (I keep forgetting to look it up.) However, I was told by my most recent preceptor, that she does not take BP at triage if the patient is less than 8 or so, unless they look very "large" for their age. Most of the nurses I work with do not worry about a BP on a pedi patient under this age unless they are really sick.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I'm going to move this thread to the Pediatric Forum where you might get a few more answers...

[pinkiepie_RN]

I work in an outpatient surgery unit and we take BPs on all kids old enough to sit still (typically 2 and up).

[spottybug]

I work in a peds hem/onc/bmt transplant unit and we take bp's on all kids, all ages Q4 hours. :)

[TexasPediRN]

I'm with spotty.

Its BP's q4hours regardless of how old your are. (I also work at a childrens hospital)

I would think that especially after surgery, or in the emergency dept that you need to assess and complete a full set of vitals q4hours.

How do you know the parent didnt just bring you a septic child? Pedi pts can look good on the outside, but have the worst vital signs ever...

Kids go bad QUICK. Its best to try and stay ahead of the game and get those vitals.

I find it really interesting that preceptors are saying they dont take them... odd..just...odd..