How to Take a Pulse Breakdown

In my previous blog post I talked about how I took a pulse at the radial side of the wrist and at the carotid artery. I just want to give some background as to where those are and how to find it and why we take pulses at those given spots.

The radial side of the wrist is the thumb side. So take your finger and follow your thumb down until you feel like a little divot or pocket right at the base of the wrist right under the thumb. You want to take the pulse with your index and middle finger. You usually take a pulse with these two fingers because you have the most sensitivity there and your thumb has its own pulse so if you used your thumb you might actually be feeling your own pulse instead of the patient's.

The carotid artery is on your neck. You would take your fingers and find the soft groove on either side of the windpipe. For both of these areas where you would take the pulse you would take it for 15 seconds, 30 seconds, or a minute. If you take it for 15 seconds you would multiply the results by 4. If you took it for 30 seconds you would multiply it by 2. You want the beats per minute.

I hope that this helps kind of explain my last blog post and gives you a better understanding of how to take and find a pulse.

Image credit:  http://www.pacemakerplus.com/?blogger=http://www.thepad.pm/2014/01/AF-Take-Pulse-Stroke.html
http://www.infomedicblogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-check-pulse-rate.html

Prompt # 8:Practicing Your Knowledge

A couple weeks ago I practiced how to take someone's pulse. Now a lot of people think that this is the most basic easiest skill to obtain but as I was practicing this skill I learned that it is not as easy as it seems. In my kinesiology lab we had to take a pulse at the radial side of the wrist, and the carotid artery. Now you have to be able to find the pulse and be able to continually feel it for at the least 15 seconds. Then do the math to find out how many beats per minute the pulse was. This type of learning was different from written/spoken sources because I actually applied the knowledge. I didn't just read about it or try to picture how to do it I actually performed it. This type of hands-on learning helps the information stick with you. After trying to find someone's pulse for about 10 minutes it revealed to me that even the most basic task calls for attentiveness and skill. I think that everybody can benefit from knowing how to find a pulse because you never know when the time might call for you to use that knowledge.