I couldn't hear anything! I got the tutor (Andrew) to come over and help me and he had trouble finding my partners pulse... then when he did her blood pressure (with me listening) even with him telling me when they started and what they sound like i could hardly make them out. He did say hers was really quiet, but I was still disappointed. He then showed my partner what to do on me and he accidentally over inflated the cuff! It went to over 240, just after he'd told us not to inflate it above 200 cos it'll hurt. At least i'll not forget that now
Re: Blood Pressure Thanks. My arm is fine.... it did go dead at the time.
They said at the begining that a lot of people will have trouble with it, and asked who struggled at the end of the lesson and the majority of people put their hands up.
I'm thinking of buying a sphygmomometer and practicing on friends and familiy, but i'm a bit worried i'll scare off all my friends
Re: Blood Pressure i never pump it over 160 unless i can still hear it as im pumping the cuff up.
some people do have very faint pulse so it can sometimes be really difficult to hear, however you can see it on the dial as it bounces a bit so gives yopu an idea of when to listen really hard
Re: Blood Pressure Don't worry - I was in exactly the same posisiton as you were when I started the course. The lecturer couldn't understand why I couldn't hear anything. I ended up buying a sphyg to practice on friends but in the end the best place to learn was placement. As it was one of our competencies which we had to get signed off, a member of staff sat with me and said that we weren't giving up until I could tell her what her blood pressure was - she was a star ! As sphygs are quite expensive why don't you get together with some friends and ask to borrow the uni ones - they won't be getting used most of the time.
I was going to ask to borrow them tomorrow lunch time, and try and gather a few friends together so we can all practice on each other.
I've decided that unless i can find a really cheap sphyg second hand then the money will be better spent on books. There are just soooo many books that i want!
Re: Blood Pressure I start my training in jan 07 but work as an NA so hopefully will be able to get some practice in. I've bought my own sphyg and am quite pleased with it, from medisave
www.medisave.co.uk quick find code:SG501. Comes to about £17 with postage (UK, cheapest delivery option but came within 2 days) (depends on u location) and VAT.
! As sphygs are quite expensive why don't you get together with some friends and ask to borrow the uni ones - they won't be getting used most of the time.
