I now have painful bruising, on both arms, where I'm supposed to be able to palpate my brachial pulse. The more I practiced trying to find my brachial pulse, the harder it seemed to get and the harder I tried. Maybe all that trying, caused some swelling that made finding my brachial pulse harder. Maybe it really was getting harder and harder to find my brachial pulse. My lab instructor couldn't palpate my brachial pulse either.
I now wish that I would have picked up a blood pressure cuff, from the school Book Store, yesterday. The Book Store is closed today. People in lab were saying that if you used a cuff, and pumped it up a bit, it was easier to palpate the brachial pulse. I'll probably end up in a Pharmacy today, buying a cheap watch, and buy a cuff when I'm there.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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I have a hard time finding mine, too...
ReplyDeleteOnce you find it for the first time, it's easy after that. Seriously. I don't know of another way to put it; That's how it was told to me when I learned manual B/P in my CNA classes a few years ago by every single nurse I asked (the instructor, my mom, aunts, co-workers).
ReplyDeleteIt takes a while to know what to feel for, but after that you'll get it dead on every time.
I wonder if it could be possible that you just have a weak or thready pulse? I have this problem.