Orthostatic BP?

[parkj9]

So it's been my first week of NS, and we were learning about basic vital signs, etc. in lab today. We talked about orthostatic BP and what that means as far as the diastolic and systolic number changes with the different positions. I was just wondering when would you know to take BP in these different positions as opposed to just taking a regular brachial BP?

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

Hypovolemia, syncope, etc

[pookyp, LPN]

When on anti hypertensives, dizziness.

[SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP]

Is your patient complaining of dizziness or feeling faint when standing? Are they dehydrated? Have they been immobile and are now getting ready to get out of bed for the first time?

[Compassion_x]

Dizziness, syncope are probably your most common reasons for it. We had a resident who ambulated independently who suddenly was stumbling and almost fell a few times trying to walk like normal and we found out it was orthostatic hypotension.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

while on some psych meds.

[brittanyjoy91]

We were taught that some signs of this would be dizziness or lightheadedness upon standing so if your patient had either of these complaints it would be a good thing to check. That is also a side effect on many anticonvulsant and antipsychotic medications we have been working with so the nurse would probably need to assess for orthostatic hypertension if their client were on any of those.