Time and blood pressure meds

[jodispamodi]

Just a quick question, Our floor CNA's sometimes have VS done by 7:30, often I don't finish report or have meds pulled until 8:00, and then if I have someone with extra needs or whatever I find that 45 mins or so may have passed between vs and actual giving of meds. Generally speaking I will retake VS if its been longer than a 1/2 hour on my BP and dig pts. Of course this is time consuming and can really slow me down in tasks. So I'm just wondering how much time you let pass before retaking, I know some nurses on my unit allow an hour. Thanks

[seaofclouds21, BSN, RN]

I always recheck my patient's BP/HR when administering meds for BP/HR. I do it so that if there is any significant change from the last time their vitals were checked, I am aware of it and giving the medications appropriately (especially if there are hold parameters). I also like to know for sure the vitals are correct. Most of the time they are, but I have had a CNA come up to me several hours later and tell me they realized they put the vitals in on the wrong patient earlier in the shift. They correct it, but if I had relied on that, it could have been a problem.

[jodispamodi]

Are you acute care?

[cleback]

An hour for most. The exceptions are if the bp is labile, if they received something else that can effect bp/hr fairly recently, if they're on a drip, of their diagnosis puts them at high risk for bp instability (sepsis, etc).... then I use more recent vs. Sometimes when I know I'll need a more recent bp, I'll work with the NA so that vs aren't repeated unnecessarily..

[seaofclouds21, BSN, RN]

Are you acute care?

Yes, I work acute care.

[jodispamodi]

Thanks for your answers, Maybe I can use the hour on the more stable ones, or come up with a plan with the aide so I take them on some and they do others. I'm just trying to come up with a plan to not get so behind. On my floor I seem ti be the only taking vs before giving meds.

[seaofclouds21, BSN, RN]

Thanks for your answers, Maybe I can use the hour on the more stable ones, or come up with a plan with the aide so I take them on some and they do others. I'm just trying to come up with a plan to not get so behind. On my floor I seem ti be the only taking vs before giving meds.

Just because you are the only one checking the vs before giving the meds doesn't mean you are the one that is wrong. Are you checking full sets of vs or just the BP/HR?

[Sour Lemon]

I'll use the most current vitals, even if they're several hours old ...unless I have reason to believe that they may have changed or they were marginal to start out with.

[seaofclouds21, BSN, RN]

You should also check to see if your facility has an policy about this as well. If there is a policy, you should follow that at the minimum.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

If a stable patient is taking a blood pressure med that they have taken for a while, and the vital signs were within normal limits when they were taken, I will use the reading even it's not within an hour. If they haven't been stable on my shift for some reason, or it's a new med, I'll take my own set prior to administration.

[KeepinitrealCCRN]

just my 2 cents ANY pt on BP meds i would not go longer than 1 hour. if more than 1 hour goes by i would recheck their blood pressure. it is not appropriate to give a pt BP meds on a blood pressure that is 2-3 hours old.