Trasducer leveling

[juraviel]

Anyone ever use a laser level for this. I am trying to find out where they can be bought or what company makes them.

[MONITORHOSPITAL]

Hi Janfrn,

what is this "recal" stuff? just curious!!!!!

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Recalibration... zeroing... The transducer is the interface between the monitor and the patient that converts the pressure wave into numbers. In order for the numbers to be useful and valid, the transducer must be level with the right atrium and calibrated (or "zeroed") to the atmospheric pressure. The stopcock on the transducer is closed to the patient, the cap is removed, the monitor is instructed to zero and it then calibrates to the current atmospheric pressure. The cap is replaced and the stopcock reopened to the patient. Then the numbers displayed on the monitor can be considered accurate. AACN's standard is to calibrate once a shift and PRN, such as when there's a sudden change in pressure that cannot be explained. When there are abrupt changes in the weather, such as a thunderstorm, the atmospheric pressure will change rapidly causing a like rapid change in measured pressure. But repositioning a person, even raising the head of the bed, will not change the atmospheric pressure.

[MaryAnn_RN]

I worked where they taped it to the forearm. Good enough for when the patient is supine, but they would never change (relevel) it when they turned the patient. So, on the left side, pressures were low and on the right pressures high. Not a very good job of monitoring.. As far as levelling by eye sight, you can usually get pretty close. But sometimes if you "estimate" and then level you would be surprised how far off you can be. A little bit off isn't so bad with the larger numbers of the Aline, but when it comes to the PA or the CVP, it can make a big difference.

We use ET tape to tie the transducer to the patients upper arm, and all calibrations are made when the pt is supine. It is the trend that we are looking at rather than a one off reading.

[WalkieTalkie, RN]

Whats wrong with lining it up by sight? I know us critical care nurses are anal but...

I used to be really anal about doing it with the levels, but I've found that "eyeballing it" has made no difference for the most part. Even after "eyeballing" levels on CVPs and art lines and then checking it with a level, I haven't been but more than a fraction of a centimeter off. Really, the only time I use levels now is when I'm leveling/zeroing a ventric or lumbar drain, or when a Swan is inserted. I'll probably get a few frowns from some of you for doing this, but feel free to come by any of my rooms to check out my "levels" and you'll see that I'm pretty accurate. I think a lot of us can do this.

Oh, and by the way, I can't count how many times I've had a nurse tell me in report "that art line isn't correlating with the cuff at all!"... When I go into the room to do my assessment, the transducer is a good 6 inches below the p-axis. Magically, once leveled and zeroed, it starts to correlate... LOL.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

an old fashioned carpenters level works just as well. alternatively, you may look in hardware for a laser level used to hang pictures. probably less expensive than looking for one in the medical field.

This is what we use for art lines and CVP. Codman is the EVD manufacturer with the laser level. At my facility we use integra drains which have a level on a string.

Did that help?