Download Pulse PPT

Pulse
Pulse
• Definition- the pressure of the blood felt
against the wall of an artery as the heart
contracts and relaxes, or beats
• Felt in arteries that lie fairly close to the skin and can
be pressed against a bone by the fingers
Pulse
– Pulse sites
• Temporal – at side of forehead
• Carotid – at neck
• Brachial – at inner aspect of forearm at antecubital
space
• Radial – at inner aspect of wrist above thumb; most
common site
• Femoral – at inner aspect of upper thigh
• Popliteal – behind knee
• Dorsalis pedis – at top foot arch
Pulse
– Measured in number of beats per minute
• Rate – number of beats per minute
• Rhythm – regularity; regular or irregular
• Volume – strength; strong, weak, thready, or bounding
Pulse
– Pulse rates vary depending on age, sex, and body
size
• Adults – 60 – 90 bpm
– Men – 60 – 70 bpm
– Women – 65 – 80 bpm
• Children over 7 years – 70 – 90 bpm
• Children 1 to 7 years – 80 – 100 bpm
• Infants – 100 – 160 bpm
Pulse
–Bradycardia – pulse under 60
bpm
–Tachycardia – pulse over 100
bpm
–Arrhythmia – irregular or
abnormal rhythm
Pulse
• Factors that may change pulse rate
– Increased – exercise, stimulant drugs, excitement,
fever, shock, and nervous tension
– Decreased – sleep, depressant drugs, heart
disease, coma, and physical training
• Document findings - P
Apical Pulse
• Definition– pulse count taken at the apex of the
heart with a stethoscope
– Stethoscope amplifies the actual heart beat
– Usually ordered on patients with irregular heartbeats,
hardening of the arteries, or weak or rapid radial
pulses, and infants
– Two separate heart sounds are heard while listening
to the heartbeat = “lubb-dupp” caused by closing of
heart valves as blood flows through chambers of the
heart
– Each lubb-dupp counts as ONE heartbeat
Apical Pulse
– Pulse deficit – heart condition in which heart is
weak and does not pump enough to blood to
produce a pulse or heart beats too fast and there
is not enough time for the heart to fill with blood
• The heart does not produce a pulse during each beat
• Apical pulse rate is higher than the pulse rate at the
other pulse sites on the body
• Most accurate determination of pulse deficit calculated
by two persons at the same time
– Document findings - AP