can some one help please :)

[JPINFV]

I've had it run up that high on me. It's not comfortable, but it's not too bad.

That is the way my instructor told me to do it. Remember, if I you start to go down rather quickly, it won't be uncomfortable for very long.

Any length of uncomfortableness is too much if it serves no purpose. It's like saying that every patient should be c-spined because an ambulance was called. After all, it's only a temporary pain, right?

I'm not trying to jump on you. What I am trying to do is to get you to think outside of "well, my instructor told me X." While yes, it's important to learn and hard to impossible to think outside of the instructors box until the education is complete and experience is gained, it's never too early to ask about things that sound odd.

 

[paramedichopeful]

Here are 4 quick hints about taking a BP that I have learned:

1) Do not try in a houseful of screaming family members who are freaking out about the patient's condition. You will hear nothing more than screaming through the steth (and that's not really pleasant)
2) Try to get it before you get them into the ambo (i.e. the front lawn or someplace outside of the madhouse you just extracted the pt. from
3) If you try for a BP in the ambo while you are rolling, lift your feet up off the floor and try to keep your arms off of the stretcher. This will kill some of the vibrations and road noise that can interfere with what you're looking for.
4) If your rigs are like ours where dispatch squals on the radio every 5 seconds, have whoever's driving turn down the volume and close the partition between the Mod and the cab.

Trust me. It all sounds stupid but it works. When I first started doing BP's i would get so mad because all I would hear is the road or the radio or screaming black women yelling that their baby daddy gonna go to da hospital. (no racism here; we just work mainly in a black neighborhood where the women freak out whenever we come to get their husband or kids. they see the lights and hear the sirens and flip because they think we're the cops.) After about a week my instructor looked at me one day when we were out on a call while I was trying to take a BP and goes, "Do you know what you're doing wrong?" I'm like "No. What is going on. Why can't I get a beat?" He gave me the above suggestions and next time out I tried them and it worked. Oh, the power of mentors/tormentors.

 

[MrBrown]

or you could use the blood pressure gizmo on the Lifepak :lol:

... don't you be using the blood pressure gizmo on the Lifepak now or I'm going to have to slap you

 

[JPINFV]

or you could use the blood pressure gizmo on the Lifepak :lol:

... don't you be using the blood pressure gizmo on the Lifepak now or I'm going to have to slap you

Lifepak? Hell, in a few years I'll have little fleshy minions who'll do it for me...

 

[medichopeful]

Any length of uncomfortableness is too much if it serves no purpose. It's like saying that every patient should be c-spined because an ambulance was called. After all, it's only a temporary pain, right?

I'm not trying to jump on you. What I am trying to do is to get you to think outside of "well, my instructor told me X." While yes, it's important to learn and hard to impossible to think outside of the instructors box until the education is complete and experience is gained, it's never too early to ask about things that sound odd.

I haven't taken any offense from it, and I don't feel like your trying to jump on me. I appreciate the help.

Yes, it is hard to start making my own decisions until I have some experience. However, I never really thought it was too "odd." But I will have to consider doing it your way (and the ways of others). I'm sure I will get better at it with experience (I'm going to take as many BPs as possible once I get my own cuff).

Also, once I get more experience, I can guarantee I will think out of the box.

Keep the suggestions coming. I won't be TOO offended h34r:

 

[medichopeful]

Just thought I'd throw this out here. DO NOT put BP over life-saving interventions. If you don't have time to get one, just tell the receiving staff. It's better than taking a BP and having the patient get into some serious trouble.