manual or electronic BPs in your clinic?

Specialties Ambulatory

Published

Specializes in nursing education.

Hi,

We do all electronic blood pressures (family medicine clinic).

The MAs say they forgot how to do manual ones and "would need to be retrained."

I think electronic cuffs only belong in critical care settings where you need a reading q2 minutes or something like that.

Do you do automatic electronic ones, manual, or some of each in your clinic?

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Some of each. We start with electronic, but the cuffs for overweight/obese people are very finicky and half the time, they blow up twice and then error out. When that happens, we do a manual. We will also do a manual if the BP is outside parameters.

I would love to do manual on everyone (it's faster and more accurate) but it would require leaving the cuffs and stethoscopes out at the check-in area in back, and I guarantee they would walk away within a day. So we keep the cuffs in a drawer in one of the exam rooms, and we each have our own stethoscopes that we tuck away in our personal drawers.

Specializes in nursing education.
Some of each. We start with electronic, but the cuffs for overweight/obese people are very finicky and half the time, they blow up twice and then error out. When that happens, we do a manual. We will also do a manual if the BP is outside parameters.

We got new more appropriate cuffs for the larger sized people, including the "cone shaped" ones for people whose arms are not a perfect tube shape. It helps but not enough. I like the idea of doing a manual for anyone who is outside parameters- this is a lot of our patients.

Specializes in Allergy and Immunology.

We use manual at my clinic.

Specializes in Outpatient/Clinic, ClinDoc.

All manual at mine as well. I'd love to have the electronic ones. :p

Specializes in peds, allergy-asthma, ob/gyn office.

We start with electronic, but if it's wacky we go to manual. Does anyone know of an electronic cuff that fits very obese people? I have a few 300 + pound people.... and I physically don't have the strength to inflate the thigh cuff around their arms.

Both, depending on preference. I use electronic BP because it seems like every time I do a manual pt/family members are trying to talk to me as I'm listening. If I get a reading outside the typical for that pt I'll verify with a manual reading.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

They make large thigh cuffs...

Specializes in peds, allergy-asthma, ob/gyn office.

Oh yes I have used the the thigh cuffs. But I have a really hard time inflating it. I guess I need to work out more lol. Seriously, it takes me forever to inflate and my arm is about to fall off by the time I am finished.

We use electronic at my clinic, but if the reading is abnormal, we use manual.

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

I work inpatient LTC. Most BPs are taken by aides via electronic cuff.

Whenever I need to take a BP,I tend to use a manual sphygmomanometer. I feel it's more accurate.

Thanks to the OP mentioned cone shaped cuffs. I've never heard of those before, but I have had many Pts with differently shaped arms whom I believe would benefit from a cone shaped BP cuff.

Specializes in Med Surg, Specialty.

I work in specialty where only large BP abnormalities really 'matter' to us. I love using the dynamap because I can keep talking to the patients while its working, so it saves me time and keeps things moving.

I also find that my hand cramps up when I have to do a bunch of blood pressures. So I'm glad to not have to worry about that. Of course, if there is a concerning abnormality in the blood pressure I will do a manual to confirm.

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