Ways to assess the pulse: 1. By pal

Ways to assess the pulse: 1. By palpation- using the middle 3 fingers for palpating all pulses except the apical pulse 2. By using stethoscope- for assessing apical pulse and fetal heart tone (FHT) 3. By Doppler UTZ stethoscope (DUS)- for pulses that are difficult to assess. DUS headset has earpieces similar to standard stethoscope but it has a long cord attached to a volume-controlled audio unit and an UTZ transducer (battery operated) 4. By using cardiac monitoring machine- indicating the rate on the screen or readout graph (chestleads are attached on different sites of the body)  When assessing the pulse, the nurse collects the following data: rate, rhythm, volume, arterial wall elasticity and presence or absence of bilateral equality.  Tachycardia – referred to an excessively fast heart rate (ex. Over 100 beats per minute in adult)  Bradycardia – referred to an excessively slow heart rate (ex. Less than 60 beats per minute in adult)