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So moving on to the piulse, we're going to
explain to our patient what we're doing this

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time, because unlike the respiratory counts
that we were doing, the respiration rate,

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00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:27,030
generally speaking, telling a patient that
you're going to count the pulse doesn't

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00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:29,930
unduly affect the pulse rate.

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00:00:29,930 --> 00:00:32,470
So reassuring arm on the shoulder.

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00:00:32,470 --> 00:00:40,360
And we feel with two fingers at the radial
pulse or the radial area for the pulse.

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00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,950
And if we can't feel there, we can always
move to the brachial area.

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00:00:44,950 --> 00:00:49,990
OK, so we're going to feel for the pulse and
we're not going to press too hard because we

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00:00:49,990 --> 00:00:53,410
need to feel for the quality of that pulse
as well.

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00:00:53,410 --> 00:01:00,040
We need to be looking for whether it is
strong and bounding or it's weak or weak and

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00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:09,690
thready. Once we have found the pulse, we need to
count and monitor it for a full 60 seconds

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00:01:09,690 --> 00:01:15,360
and I can do that by my nurses fob watch with a
third hand on it so we count for a full 60

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00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:22,470
seconds. Obviously, I'm not going to do that
for this video, but it is good practice to

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00:01:22,470 --> 00:01:25,730
allow 60 seconds for the monitoring of it.

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00:01:25,740 --> 00:01:31,230
So once I've monitored and I've got my
count, we record on the news chart or the

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00:01:31,230 --> 00:01:37,200
system in the clinical practice that is used
to record observations.

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00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:44,980
And if the patient wants to know, then let
them know along with doing a manual count.

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00:01:44,980 --> 00:01:50,220
There is we can rely also on electronic
devices which are widely used now in

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practice, so they come in numerous sorts of forms.

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00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:02,370
So the first form is this little portable
one that just slips on the finger like so and

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00:02:02,370 --> 00:02:08,190
that will give along with a pulse reading
it will also give an oxygen saturation

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00:02:08,190 --> 00:02:17,160
reading as well. And again, it's just a
probe on the finger and we just pop it on.

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00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:24,790
And if it was switched on, it would be given
a reading of both oxygen saturations and pulse.

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00:02:24,790 --> 00:02:30,600
The thing to say about electronic readings is that's
fine, but we still need to look to make sure

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00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:36,420
that it's given it's got a good readout and
we've got a good signal.

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00:02:36,420 --> 00:02:40,740
The other thing that it doesn't tell you
either is about quality of pulse.

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00:02:40,740 --> 00:02:47,370
So that's why it's good practice to feel the
pulse as well as long as a side using the

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00:02:47,370 --> 00:02:49,860
electronic devices.

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00:02:49,860 --> 00:02:55,560
So just to explain a little bit further about
the electronic device, about the pulse is

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00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:00,960
just to explain on this particular device,
the display showing here that we've put the

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00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:06,870
probe on a patient and this oxygen
saturation is in 99 percent and that's on

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00:03:06,870 --> 00:03:10,620
air. So that's really good and it's within
normal limits.

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00:03:10,620 --> 00:03:14,670
And then the pulse rate is 75.

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00:03:14,670 --> 00:03:21,780
OK, and that's also from the probe that's
resting on the patient's finger.

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00:03:21,780 --> 00:03:27,510
Now, what I talk about, make sure that you
have a good connection and the device is

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00:03:27,510 --> 00:03:29,310
picking up correctly.

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00:03:29,310 --> 00:03:31,080
This is what you need to be looking at.

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00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,520
So all the devices that you use will have
some sort of tracing method on it.

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00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:41,700
And you need to be looking to see that the
tracing is actually given a good wave and a

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00:03:41,700 --> 00:03:44,310
regular wave, which is here.

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00:03:44,310 --> 00:03:50,310
So we know that the patient, you know, the
things that might affect that on the patient,

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00:03:50,310 --> 00:03:53,340
that they might be peripherally shut down.

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00:03:53,340 --> 00:03:58,380
So the device is struggling to get a good
reading constantly.

44
00:03:58,380 --> 00:04:02,920
It might be that the device is faulty, so it
is only intermittently working.

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00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:08,180
And again, it's still struggling to sort of
get a reading.

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00:04:08,180 --> 00:04:13,490
So it's really important to even use an
electronic device that you are using it

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00:04:13,490 --> 00:04:20,390
correctly and that electronic device is
effective for what you're trying to monitor.