BP's in pts with afib

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

i really should have used the nibp machine but i did a manual bp on my pt yesterday and he had a-fib. I got a normal bp of 120/70 & it was similar to the other charted bp's ...but whats the proper way to do it so i dont make this flub again.

thx :):nurse:

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

It's best to do a manual reading (old school stethoscope and sphygmomanometer) in patients with an irregular heart beat ie atrial fibrillation. The machines aren't very accurate when dealing with anything other than a normal rhythm. There have been various journal articles published on this.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.

oh so then i did it the right way. cool.

i did get his apical pulse also--im glad i remembered that much

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