pediatric vital signs

[dan_dfc]

What is the routine in your ER for checking BP on infants and toddlers. I'm a pretty new nurse, 1 year out of school and at our ER BP is RARELY checked on infants and toddlers, routine vitals would usually be pulse, respirations, pulse ox, temp, and appropriate pain scale. (this is assuming the pt is alert, pink, cap refill

I'd love to hear from some of you guys on what your guidlines are, espescially those of you in pedi ER's.

[LLLLiiiFFEsaveer]

This is a really good question!

My ED is like others have said...We do not need to check a BP on the young ones (I think this is because our peds docs are soo good/our RN's are good) Ussualy... Does not matter though

A good nurse/MD knows when, but my rule of thumb is - get it. Get that ped's BP! Yea, they compensate well, and mostly you'll know, But what if...

Takes one minute so....

Look to your particular ED policy.

[michupat]

ditto what MobileNurseSara said. We do doppler BP for less than 12 months and regular BPs for all others.

[Jennifer, RN]

We usually get bp's on kids over 4 years old, unless their condition or status warrants a BP. If I have to transfer a kid to a pediatric hospital for any reason, then, their condition probably warrants getting at least a baseline BP.

[LiveZen]

I'm a PCA (soon to be RN!) in a Peds ER/Leve II Ped Trauma Center. We do BP's on every kid that comes in through triage or squad (including injuries, forehead lacs, etc.) We usually use a Dynamap (electric BP machine) but if that doesn't work (wiggly kid, weird hi/lo reading, etc) we manually palpate the blood pressure. This gives you a baseline, and only the systolic pressure. This was something that was new for me, coming from an EMS background, but you basically pump up the cuff and palpate for the brachial artery while deflating the cuff and you get the systolic bp when you first feel the pulse.

We also reasses BP's after fluid boluses or other procedures that may/should cause a change in BP.

[crb613, BSN, RN]

b/p on all kids 5 years & over....under 5 years as condition warrants.

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

patient at peds hospital here and in the er bp is a part of triage and every x hours (not sure doesnt seem universal must be by the doc)