BLS Automatic BP Cuffs

catskills

Forum Crew Member
47
0
0
BLS volunteer rescue squad looking to purchase first automatic BP cuff.

Also looking to purchase automatic wrist BP cuff for fire rehab.

Any and all comments welcome. Suggestions on model and where to buy.

Wallmart has the Omron HEM-609 Wrist BP Cuff for $40.99. Anyone use this for fire rehab?

51SoWbKXXVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
 

rwik123

Forum Asst. Chief
718
7
18
BLS volunteer rescue squad looking to purchase first automatic BP cuff.

Also looking to purchase automatic wrist BP cuff for fire rehab.

Any and all comments welcome. Suggestions on model and where to buy.

Wallmart has the Omron HEM-609 Wrist BP Cuff for $40.99. Anyone use this for fire rehab?

51SoWbKXXVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Honestly those are crap. My dad has one just to check his blood pressure now and then. You hafta have the patient put their hand on their chest and it takes a while. In the full minute it takes to get a most likely false reading, you could of taken multiple manual BPs. Is it lack of experience and skill, or just not wanting to take manual bp?
 

Trauma_Junkie

No rest for the wicked...
92
0
6
In my experience it's hit or miss with those. When it comes down to it I prefer to take manual BP.
 

Aidey

Community Leader Emeritus
4,800
11
38
BLS volunteer rescue squad looking to purchase first automatic BP cuff.

Also looking to purchase automatic wrist BP cuff for fire rehab.

Any and all comments welcome. Suggestions on model and where to buy.

Wallmart has the Omron HEM-609 Wrist BP Cuff for $40.99. Anyone use this for fire rehab?

51SoWbKXXVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


That looks like cloth. I would not put a cloth BP cuff on the wrist of a FF who is sitting in rehab. That thing would stink like a locker room after one fire.
 

Level1pedstech

Forum Captain
474
2
0
Honestly those are crap. My dad has one just to check his blood pressure now and then. You hafta have the patient put their hand on their chest and it takes a while. In the full minute it takes to get a most likely false reading, you could of taken multiple manual BPs. Is it lack of experience and skill, or just not wanting to take manual bp?

I really doubt there would be a long life for this machine when used in a pre hospital field setting. With different providers using the equipment in all kinds of conditions I don't think it would make it very long. I agree save the 40.00.

OP whats a realistic budget for your agency? Are you just looking for one to place on a first out unit or would you like one in every BLS kit. There are options and it might help if you could provide a little more about why you are looking to go automatic and how much abuse your going to put the equipment through. You may be able to lay your hands on used equipment but even used is not cheap so research and being well informed will help you the most. Also you have to consider the legal issues of putting equipment on line that may not be authorized by your medical director.

You will find some resistance from those that believe auto BP's are a skill not meant for BLS providers. They mean well but.... Also the "you need to be proficient at taking manuals before you start relying on auto's for diagnostic purposes" crowd will most likely chime in. That's a very good point but you can integrate the auto equipment into your service provided you offer the proper training and over sight based on what equipment you choose. There is a big difference between a cheap little auto cuff like the one pictured and a used LifePak or a similar type of field monitor.

Truth be told in the years I have been in the ER I very rarely see anyone take a manual BP it happens but not very often. When I was in the field it was whatever you had at the time but usually manual unless ALS arrived first. I do on occasion take a manual just to stay proficient but everyone from the smallest peds patients on up through the most complicated traumas are routinely monitored with an auto BP. I feel very comfortable with using our monitors and they work well most of the time. You do need to have your crews stay proficient at manuals because it is the foundation of BLS skills and they may not always have the option of using an auto unit and like any other skill it will weaken over time if not used.
 

WolfmanHarris

Forum Asst. Chief
802
101
43
The main benefits in my mind of automated NIBP are not having to rely on auscultation in noisier environments and the ability to just set it and forget it. That being said, they are far from 100% reliable at the incredibly expensive, supposedly medic proof, designed for EMS LP15 level; I can only guess how well a $40 drug store model will do.

I try to take my first BP on all calls manually, that way if the first NIBP is way off I can recheck it, or discount the NIBP reading entirely. After that though I can set it to take one at whatever interval I like and then focus on my other tasks on scene.

Before you purchase anything, see if you can get the manufacturers specs. This saved my old campus first aid team from wasting money on an SPO2 monitor that wasn't rated for the temperature extremes it would have experienced in the pack.
 

HotelCo

Forum Deputy Chief
2,198
4
38
Don't waste your money. Just keep doing manual BPs.

.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

medicRob

Forum Deputy Chief
1,754
3
0
Even the NIBP on the Lifepaks aren't accurate 100% of the time. This is why I ALWAYS want my first pressure to be a manual one. Back in my days as an EMT-IV, I owned about 4 different automatic BP units, when compared against a manual blood pressure, I found none of them to be accurate. Save your money and put it toward something more useful. :)
 

Soco_and_Lime

Forum Probie
16
0
0
To me that looks like just another thing that can break very easily and could get lost (like the small SPo2 meters.

Manual is the way to go.
 

medicRob

Forum Deputy Chief
1,754
3
0
To me that looks like just another thing that can break very easily and could get lost (like the small SPo2 meters.

Manual is the way to go.

Well, another problem I have with them, especially the ones that fit on the wrist is that the patient is less likely to hold that arm still or to relax it (which of course they need to do to get a good pressure).
 

nakenyon

Forum Crew Member
82
0
0
At my service, we've bounced around the idea of getting an automatic BP cuff for rehab, but ultimately we've been unable to find anything remotely suitable on the market. I'll echo the sentiments of others, manual is the way to go. Unless you have a medic with a lifepak there, and even then I don't always trust them.
 

Aidey

Community Leader Emeritus
4,800
11
38
Even the NIBP on the Lifepaks aren't accurate 100% of the time.

I've found that my LP15 is quite finicky. The systolic is usually within a few points, but if there is any movement at all the diastolic is high. I'll get BPs like "128/112".
 

jjesusfreak01

Forum Deputy Chief
1,344
2
36
I've found that my LP15 is quite finicky. The systolic is usually within a few points, but if there is any movement at all the diastolic is high. I'll get BPs like "128/112".

Just take a bunch, and then delete the ones you don't like (ie, deviate from your on scene pressure significantly, and are off from pressures taken before/after them). Also, anyone get the memo on the Masimo Rainbow sensors? Apparently the CO detection is a little finicky, specifically it reads high in the back of moving ambulances.
 

WolfmanHarris

Forum Asst. Chief
802
101
43
Just take a bunch, and then delete the ones you don't like (ie, deviate from your on scene pressure significantly, and are off from pressures taken before/after them). Also, anyone get the memo on the Masimo Rainbow sensors? Apparently the CO detection is a little finicky, specifically it reads high in the back of moving ambulances.

Do you have a link to this? My service opted to not carry the SpCO but one of our neighbouring services did and I'd like to pass that memo along to some colleagues.
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
4,926
1,323
113
If you're looking to get a unit strictly for use on a rehab truck, just get one of those dynamap units that you can mount on a pole. Then all you'd really need is a disposable cuff... Then check it against a manual reading. All I really want out of those units is knowing if it's close to a manual reading and from there, is it consistent, and then is the patient trending up or down.... For something that's right on the border of some critical clinical value, I'll do a manual BP instead of NIBP.

My favorite (so far) NIBP unit?
This ->
ppqencore_XXXXX_product1.jpg


The downside? New, they're up near $20k each. Refurb units appear to sell for $1.5-4k each. Not exactly inexpensive units.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

medicRob

Forum Deputy Chief
1,754
3
0
If you're looking to get a unit strictly for use on a rehab truck, just get one of those dynamap units that you can mount on a pole. Then all you'd really need is a disposable cuff... Then check it against a manual reading. All I really want out of those units is knowing if it's close to a manual reading and from there, is it consistent, and then is the patient trending up or down.... For something that's right on the border of some critical clinical value, I'll do a manual BP instead of NIBP.

My favorite (so far) NIBP unit?
This ->
ppqencore_XXXXX_product1.jpg


The downside? New, they're up near $20k each. Refurb units appear to sell for $1.5-4k each. Not exactly inexpensive units.


Welch-Allyn makes some good equipment. I have one of their diagnostic otoscopes (The Macroview) and Im quite pleased. They don't skimp during the manufacturing process.

Here is a handheld BP monitor by them:

http://www.welchallyn.com/products/en-us/x-19-pe-96-1284990823771.htm
 

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
4,926
1,323
113
That little BP unit might be useful, if it can handle the duty cycle... One might even call it "cute"... ;)
 

usalsfyre

You have my stapler
4,319
108
63
Welch-Allyn makes some good equipment. I have one of their diagnostic otoscopes (The Macroview) and Im quite pleased. They don't skimp during the manufacturing process.

The exception was the PIC50. Having used it, I will attest it was a gigantic hunk of bovine excrement...

While I'm not at all against NIBP (I trust the LP more than several partners I've had) I'm not sure anything out there is going to be cost effective. As someone else noted your best bet might be a refurb dynamap mounted in the back of the truck. Even that option however, is gonna run you $500-1k, plus the maintnance (they need to be recertified and calibrated yearly by a biomedical device company).

Good luck, hope you find something that works.
 

medicRob

Forum Deputy Chief
1,754
3
0
The exception was the PIC50. Having used it, I will attest it was a gigantic hunk of bovine excrement...

While I'm not at all against NIBP (I trust the LP more than several partners I've had) I'm not sure anything out there is going to be cost effective. As someone else noted your best bet might be a refurb dynamap mounted in the back of the truck. Even that option however, is gonna run you $500-1k, plus the maintnance (they need to be recertified and calibrated yearly by a biomedical device company).

Good luck, hope you find something that works.


I still don't think that there is a substitute (Non-Invasive anyways) for a good ole manual pressure.
 
Top