Homan's Sign: Useful or Useless? What's your opinion?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Is Homan's sign myth or fact in assessing DVT?

    • 13
      Yes, I find DVTs using Homan's all the time.
    • 79
      No, I find most of my DVT patients are not positive for Homan's
    • 41
      Sometimes. Please discuss.
    • 13
      Other. Please discuss.

146 members have participated

Do you perform Homan's sign on all of your patients? Do you find it accurate or not?

Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.
we are supposed to use it, but I have read and heard from MD's that it could dislodge a clot?? Any care to elaborate

They have told us in nursing school last semester that we are not allowed to do it for the same reason you just explained.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

From my personal experience w/ a DVT and PE at 30 years old.. had only a positive homans and a pain of 10/10 (with normal high pain tolerance.. ie: childbirth was much less painful). No redness, no swelling, no numbness, etc.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I found that most if not all my MD's do not find it of any use whatsoever, and do not believe in it working...in fact, if it is even on a chart, they will tell you so. So I don't bother with it...I use other assessment criteria like history, warmth, redness, pain, edema, pedal pulses, current meds (or lack there of), and labs.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

In 31 years I have not seen a positive Homan's. I have had plenty of people say ouch when I grasped a tense gastroc, bot not a really reliable test for DVY. A nice tape measure, heat, swelling, streaking....those are much more reliable.

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Specializes in MPCU.

Just to elaborate on my other. I agree that homan's sign is useless and could endanger the patient. I found a journal article dated 1960, which stated the same. I don't know why we nurses hang on to these myths. btw, my nursing professor refuses to drop it from her lecture. A web search shows some schools using homan's sign, however it is modified. (making it more of a check of calf tenderness) homan's sign is pain on forced dorsiflexion.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

I use it and have only found 1 DVT by doing, it the rest I have found by other S/S.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

I thought the same thing in nursing school . it just made sense to me but I was over ruled by the instructors .

we are supposed to use it, but I have read and heard from MD's that it could dislodge a clot?? Any care to elaborate
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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
I thought the same thing in nursing school . it just made sense to me but I was over ruled by the instructors .

We were taught to do it also which freaked me out after I read that it was contraindicated in pts with suspected DVT, huh?

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we are supposed to use it, but I have read and heard from MD's that it could dislodge a clot?? Any care to elaborate

I worked with a nurse from Canada who's nursing school forbade the students to use Homan's because of that.

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Specializes in Hospice, Med/Surg, ICU, ER.

Useless... totally.

In my practice, I find NO relationship between positive Homan's sign and DVT of the calf.

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I also do it for documentation purposes but I find it unreliable. I agree to other people who posted and said that other signs such as warmth, pain, tenderdness are more reliable.

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Hello! We were having a discussion about Homan's sign yesterday at work, and I was wondering what anybody on here thinks of this...Is having the pt actively dorsiflex the foot an accurate homan's check, or does the foot have to be passively flexed?

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