Pupillometer

Specialties Neurological

Published

Does anyone have a guideline that they could share for using a pupillometer? I do not have any experience with the equipment and would like to know what others do regarding frequency of use, when to call MD, etc. Any info would be appreciated!

Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

I had to look it up, never worked with one. What is it used for?? Im not sure how a nurse would use this. Are you looking to check pupil size with this??

Sorry I have more questions than answers LOL

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Never heard this term before- can you enlighten us??

Specializes in Pedi.

Worked inpatient neurology for five years. Never heard of this device, never touched one, never used one. I looked it up just now and can't imagine what a nurse would use it for. We checked pupil reaction as a part of our neuro checks but this was done with a simple $2 flashlight.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

They used to have little 6" plastic rulers w/dots on them of various millimeter sizes--match the pts eyes to the ruler. Multipurpose and very cheap-you could measure other stuff, too, and clean/disinfect as well.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
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We currently use penlights to assess pupil size and reactivity in our ICU as well but since that can be affected by the brightness (battery strength), the lighting in the room, etc. we are looking in to using a pupillometer. Add to that the challenges of assessing pupils in patients with dark eyes , patients that are sedated, etc., it can become difficult to tell for sure. The pupillometer would take the subjectivity out of our assessments. The pupillometer also gives a NPi (neurological pupil index) reading which is trended over time and detects subtle changes in pupillary responsiveness and increasing ICP. The machines are fairly cheap. Thanks for replying!

They used to have little 6" plastic rulers w/dots on them of various millimeter sizes--match the pts eyes to the ruler. Multipurpose and very cheap-you could measure other stuff too, and clean/disinfect as well.[/quote']

Thanks for sending me the link! That is very kind. We actually wanted the pupillometer to assess reactivity more so than size. Our patients are heavily sedated and it is really hard to see the reactivity (which is obviously very important when it is the only way to check neuro status). Thanks again!!

Does anyone have a guideline that they could share for using a pupillometer? I do not have any experience with the equipment and would like to know what others do regarding frequency of use, when to call MD, etc. Any info would be appreciated!

We use it our acute hepatics to assess for ICP elevation. A level below 3 or a change of more than 1 in an hour gets a call to one of the NPPs. Usually run up the Na+ to decrease ICP. We check every hour and have a fairly extensive protocol.

Here is the FAQ which explains the NPI.

http://www.neuroptics.com/uploads/pi-faq_110721.pdf

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