Chapter 7: Moving and positioning
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Pre‐procedural considerations
Considerations of positioning patients with raised ICP within the critical care setting include:
- maintaining the head of the bed up at 30° to facilitate venous drainage, which will aid in reducing ICP
- keeping the head and neck in the neutral position to improve cerebral venous drainage and reduce ICP
- avoiding compression of internal and external jugular veins from a tight cervical collar (Denehy and Main [28]).
Once ICP has stabilized and is within normal limits (5–15 mmHg), moving and positioning patients should be guided by the general principles of moving and positioning patients with neurological impairment (discussed earlier in this chapter).
