What is it about?

Palpation of the anaesthetized patient’s pulse at the wrist provides immediate access to an estimate of the patient's blood pressure within clinically relevant ranges. Coupled with knowledge of the patient’s history, this study showed that clinicians in the operating theatre can make an acceptable assessment of the patient's blood pressure 96.7% of the time, while awaiting confirmation from a regularly serviced, automated device. This is the only study of which we are aware where clinicians have attempted to make this estimate in anaesthetised patients. It lends credence to claims of accuracy in estimating SBP by radial arterial palpation.

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Why is it important?

This paper does not attempt to change current clinical practice but reassures us that estimation of blood pressure can be done with the help of expert anaesthetists feeling the radial pulse. The study also highlights a small variation to the usual Bland-Altman plotting different treatments with different colours.

Perspectives

The paper began after Brenton was approached by anaesthetist Dr David Simes re his unpublished data. At about the same time Betty Mouchel a French Master of Business student from The University of Toulouse III was seeking placement re a semester long project in Australia. She visited Murdoch University as an Occupational Trainee around 2009. An initial paper was submitted soon afterwards to a respected journal of anaesthesia. The assessment was that it would not change clinical practice. David had finished his long service leave and the article remained dormant until BBOAJ approached Brenton for the article. This paper results.

Dr Brenton R. Clarke
Murdoch University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Anaesthesia Clinicians Estimate Blood Pressure by Feeling the Radial Pulse: A Randomised, Controlled Trial, Biostatistics and Biometrics Open Access Journal, February 2018, Juniper Publishers,
DOI: 10.19080/bboaj.2018.05.555655.
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