how do you take the BP in this scenario?

I just treat the knee like an elbow, if that makes any sense, and take it in the calf.

yes, take it in the calf.. with the pulse on the back of the knee...

You can point the cuff to face the femoral (outer portion of leg) This will be upper thigh. It is quite accurate.

Went to google for you and typed in 'leg blood pressure measurement' and this is the first response

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471829

Please try to give google and your textbooks a try first-you may surprise yourself with all the answers to your multiple questions on this board can be found by simple searching.

Went to google for you and typed in 'leg blood pressure measurement' and this is the first response

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471829

Please try to give google and your textbooks a try first-you may surprise yourself with all the answers to your multiple questions on this board can be found by simple searching.

I don't know dude, I find Moshamontago's posts much more stimulating than the usual: 1) I hate nursing posts 2) I made a med error posts 3) my nursing instructor hates me posts 4) I have Chagas disease and need help now posts, and my personal favorite.... 5) who is better a physician, CRNA, PA or NP garden variety posts.

If you are going to say these kinds of things to the OP, then why even have this message board. Your response can certainly be applied to more than half the posts we see here.

You forgot one Redcell! 6) Has anyone done their RN online?

Good question Mash! Just remember that some nurses have a habit of eating their young!

As an instructor, sometimes I think the questions that are asked here are from students who should be finding their own answers rather than asking us to give them the answers....

There are several different scenarios that I have run across during my nursing career that I've had to take a bp using a patient's leg. Central line in one arm, HD graft in the other.... Amputations, cellulitis, DVT, wounds, swelling, mastectomy, lymphectomy, the list goes on.

Where I have trouble is when the patient has bil AKA or BKA a central line in one arm and a graft in the other,, and there is NO PLACE to take a BP. What do you do then?? You can't really do much, except put a CVP line in and monitor it constantly in the ICU.

I believe that in some instances it is perfectly fine to come here and ask nursing questions. After all, this is a NURSING discussion website isn't it? I'm sure that most of the posters that ask questions on here have already looked for an answer and would like an answer from an experienced nurse.

They might actually be scared to ask their instructor because the instructor's answer is "look it up in the textbook"... yeah, after they have flipped through their book so much that the pages are about to fall off.

So many times I wished there was an experienced nurse that I could go to and ask questions while I was in nursing school. You can read a textbook only for so long before you want REAL LIFE answers.

It's not like the OP has asked several questions and wants us to fill in the blank so we can do her homework for her.

I remember the first time I ran into this situation and told the nurse who asked me to do it how and she looked at me like I was an idiot. It took forever. The patient was in isolation and you could hardly hear a thing though the disposable stethoscope. Even the instructor had a hard time. At least the instructor was approachable

I see pt's quite often where we do BP on a leg. Most common is bilateral radical mastectomies or history of that. Today we had a pt. who had an AV fistula in one arm and two clotted off fistulas in the other arm.

I also think that sometimes, you want to hear it 'live' from a peer rather than a textbook. I tend to be like that, and I read ALL the time.

From what I remember, the patient should be lying down, at least and the pulse can be felt at the popliteal. Now, I had a situation where I had to take a blood pressure this way, and to be honest, I did not hear it through the popliteal at all and barely felt the pulse. Had to get another nurse to assist.