When is a difference in standing and sitting pulse normal?

shajon22 · Jul 18, 2008

i really think its no difference . the actual number of the pulse is more important in order to tell wether the person is tachycardia or bradycardia. but if you notice a huge difference in the pulse rate between standing and sitting , you may have to do an assesment on the person tharacic cavity like listening to the apical pulse to get an accurate pulse rate. also , you may need to find out why the pulse changes when the person stand or sit. the person could have a heart condition.

babynurselsa, RN · Jul 19, 2008

You may be referring to a tilt test. This is when you take a patients pule and bp in a lying position, then in a sitting position andd then in a standing position. An increase in 15 or more indicates that the patient is probably dehydrated and needs some fluids.

BinkieRN, BSN, RN · Aug 8, 2008

if you notice a huge difference in the pulse rate between standing and sitting , you may have to do an assesment on the person tharacic cavity like listening to the apical pulse to get an accurate pulse rate.

There's no reason to do an assessment of the thoracic cavity which, by the way, would have to be done by CT, MRI, x-ray, or a surgeon.

Our bodies automatically adjust to standing by increasing vascular tone, heart rate and cardiac output. When a patient cannot stand without the HR going up more than 30bpm then they have postural orthostatic intolerance.

The tilt table test is done to test for the exact opposite reason. Patients who have trouble with dizziness and/or syncope when standing may suffer from hypotensive orthostatic intolerance. They are fine when sitting but when standing the vascular tone and cardiac output decreases and the BP and HR go down resulting in dizziness/syncope.

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Aug 8, 2008

i really think its no difference . the actual number of the pulse is more important in order to tell wether the person is tachycardia or bradycardia. but if you notice a huge difference in the pulse rate between standing and sitting , you may have to do an assesment on the person tharacic cavity like listening to the apical pulse to get an accurate pulse rate. also , you may need to find out why the pulse changes when the person stand or sit. the person could have a heart condition.

Well, it's normal and expected for our HR to increase from a sitting to standing position and it does not require an assessment of the thoracic cavity.

When I did ortho vitals on people we looked for an increase in HR >20 pts AFTER 2 minutes. This was considered positive. Also, we looked for a decrease in BP. Each place I've worked had different parameters.