How do you check a pulse? Nope I'm not a student

[newtress]

Hello all, recently a few of us gals got onto the subject of taking a patients pulse. The earliest fundamentals of nursing taught so long ago. No I'm not a student, relax. I never really watched or noticed the way anyone else checks a pulse. So what I found is that all three of us did this somewhat differently. Wrist up, wrist down, and relaxed by patient's side or a variant somewhere in between. How do YOU typically check a pulse?

[Good Morning, Gil]

Monitor/apically.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

the unit I work on is a pedi cardiac icu. we check ALL the pulses and chart on all of them too. Not the carotids (not a common place to check on babies I guess) but brachials, radials, fems, popliteal, tibial, pedal. We have to chart every one too and I have charted multiple different strengths on a single patient just because of what our population is. It is a pain though haha

[newtress, LPN]

umcRN, you are a serious pulsar!

[Neche51]

I am a CMA/recent RN grad. In the clinic, I take the pts pulse with their arm rested on the counter. While in nursing school, one of my instructors taught us to take the pulse resting it on the pts chest, so you can feel the respirations also. My current way was not the wrong wasy, its just that its a different version of getting the pulse and respirations at the same time.

Hello all, recently a few of us gals got onto the subject of taking a patients pulse. The earliest fundamentals of nursing taught so long ago. No I'm not a student, relax. I never really watched or noticed the way anyone else checks a pulse. So what I found is that all three of us did this somewhat differently. Wrist up, wrist down, and relaxed by patient's side or a variant somewhere in between. How do YOU typically check a pulse?

[nursel56]

umcRN, you are a serious pulsar!

She's a mega-pulsar!

umc - we used to mark a little "x" on the kid's feet where their pedal pulses were strongest. I guess that would be considered cheating now. :)

[newtress, LPN]

The ultimate has to be your thin skinned patient who's carotid or radial is visible and bounding, before it is even palpable.

[DawnCaprice]

Great posts...I am a 2nd quarter RN student and we just talked about and learned how to do vitals yesterday. These posts are quite helpful. What is even better is I actually understood what was being said. lol!!!!

I love learning from you ladies!!!

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

She's a mega-pulsar!

umc - we used to mark a little "x" on the kid's feet where their pedal pulses were strongest. I guess that would be considered cheating now. :)

haha if we're using a doppler to find them some nurses might do that that way if the oncomming nurse can't find it exactly where everyone else has been finding it we know that it might actually be gone

[emilly.lynn]

Ah thats easy!!

[NurseLife88, ADN, RN]

I work peds so always one full minute of listening to the apical. When I worked elsewhere I typically just check radial never really thought about position of pt. while doing it though. Occasionally when radial cant be felt I would go straight to carotid and then compare that to apical. On a funny note had a double arm amputee who refused to have pulses checked anywhere but caratoid, he said he was ticklish and freaked if you even tried to check a pedal or popliteal. Sweet guy though haha:)

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I find that liitle groove in the wrist above the thumb and use the pads of three fingers ever so gently so as not to occlude the artery.