[Franksters]

I encourage my nurses, especially new nurses, to manually check any VS that is high or low. When I worked in ICU I checked all my readings manually. Machines are good but nothing can replace good ole nursing judgement.

[FutureNurse35]

If the automatic vital machines are so inaccurate, why do hospitals still use them?
According to most of you, these machines are not reliable. Maybe the hospitals should be made aware for the safety of the clients, to go back to the manual way to take vitals. I personally think if these machines are use probably they will do the job right. I use them at the hospital where I am working as a nursing student tech. So far, they are accurate. I always make sure to use the right size cuff and put it the right way. The nurses usually get similar readings when recheck manually. If you having out of wack readings, maybe it it time to alert the supervisor of the problem.

[Sheri257]

Do I trust the machines? No. But when I was an aide with 10-13 patients ... I had to use them because the RN's would get really PO'd if I didn't get the vitals in on time.

Besides, the manual BP cuffs at the hospital didn't always work either. So ... if the vitals seemed really off I'd do it manually as much as I could with my own cuff.

[climberrn]

Totally didn't read all 7 pages of this but in my old hospital you COULDN'T check a BP manually. The hospital didn't have manual cuffs. One time I couldn't get our monitor to get a reading on a kiddo, did everything trouble shooting I could do, looked for a manual cuff and there wasn't one in the entire floor. Couldn't believe it.

[irisRN]

I trust the dynamaps, they are usually pretty accurate. However, the machines are most definitely not a substitute for assessment. If you get a set of abnormal (or even just "funny" vitals), you should not think twice to repeat them manually. However, in my experience, the machine is usually not that far off.

We used to have tympanic thermometers...yeah, that didnt last long. They are garbage. I'd sooner do an axillary temp.

As far as sats go...I learned the hard way (i wasnt even in nursing school then)...i had an 18 month old patient who typically gave me sats in the 80s, and one day he came in and i could not for the life of me get a sat or BP (he was crying..as most 18 months old do when they come to the office). So, i hooked him up to the ecg machine, and lo and behold...he was in full SVT, tachying away at 300+. Lesson learned. Now i do a quick little look over before i take vitals...then i continue assessing based on what the vitals say (to make sure it all makes sense...)

Like i said...dynamaps are great, but not a replacement for assessment.

[Franksters]

Unfortunately health care is becoming automated. We use dinamaps, hand held sats, electronic thermometers, etc. My first assessment of the night, I checked all machine readings manually. That way I knew the difference in numbers. I did this every 4 hours. That way, I felt comfortable relying on the quick method. However, I have worked with nurses that were slaves to these machines. If the monitor alarmed VF, it was VFDon't pay attention to the patient sitting up and telling you they are ok. Ok, Ok. That is an extreme example but you catch my drift.

[Spatialized]

We use dynamaps and tele-mons on our unit. For the most I do trust, but like have been put out there, if the reading is odd, I'll check it by hand. One thing I did find is that the automated cuffs can have a difficult time getting accurate readings on my afib/flutter patient, especially those with faster ventricular rates.
Machines are great, but nothing like getting eyes on your patient. And when the monitor shows something untoward like VT, we'll be in there in a heart beat. It's bad though, I hear the alarms in my sleep now...
Tom

[PEGGY1974]

I use the automatic machines, but I also take the intiative to visually check my patients health status. If the vital signs are too high, I do the vitals manually.

[clou]

The PCT's use "datascopes" but I (I'm an LPN who works in a small hospital)don't always trust them. If someone reports an "out of whack" reading, I ask them to recheck, especially the blood pressures, manually. Sometimes the machines are accurate, and sometimes they're not. I only trust what I hear or see.

[iceyspots]

Auto BP cuffs will not get an accurate reading for hypotension!