measuring ascites

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i had a pt with severe ascites and was told to measure the girth but i can not find an article or book that explains the medical reason why this is done. i know that it is to measure excessive fluid volume and how it shifts but i need a reference. please help

~la changita~

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

This is an easy thing to do but I am surprised that anyone is still ordering such a thing. You take a tape measure and place it all the way around the patient over the abdomen at the largest point. Then you take a marker and mark where you placed the tape measure so that it gets placed in the same location each time the measurement is made. This is really an old technique and I have not seen this used in about 25 years.

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A better means of measuring is to weigh the pt daily, same time, same scale.

Good luck finding a tape measurer on the unit that is big enough to accommodate acites! I think this technique of measuring acites is no longer commonly used, and the supplies won't be available to you.

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:redbeathethanks for the information, it helped. i can imagine it would be hard to find a tape measure that big. It seemed like a really old way to asses the ascites but my teacher wanted me to do 3 interventions for excess fluid volume and she suggested that. i had also put monitor weight daily monitor fluid intake. thanks once again

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