Blood Pressure Cuff

IMHO -- cancel your order.

When practicing at school, they have BP cuffs. I was told by my clinical instructor that we are NOT to bring our own cuffs to clinicals. Her reasoning: there is no way to know if a student's cuff is calibrated correctly. She allowed us to use only the facility's cuffs or the cuff she brought for us. In addition, she brought up the point -- do you really want your cuff to be used on patients who are ill with whatever then brought home to your family?

If you do want your own cuff (I have one myself) then buy the cheaper one. It will most likely fulfill your needs (home use and practice not patient use).

Ditto what V said...I wouldn't waste your money. Of course he said that you need it...he prob works on commission. I suggest you take the cuff, wrap it around his scrawny little neck and pump it up to about 200.

Unless you want to pay to have the calibration checked all the time (which you would have to with a cheapie), I wouldn't waste the money. They always have them laying around in the hospital and lab at school.

It is nice to have one on hand, I have a nice cuff that I keep at home (purchased at a nursing store)

Yeah, they made us buy cuffs. Their cheap and plastic. I used it in my fundamentals class, but after that- uh, anybody seen it?

We had to use them for our check offs in BP. I guess it just depends on if you really have to have one.

Although, there are times I wish I had it with me, like, when I can't find a Dinamap or BP cuff on the floor (yes, that happens...) Also nice to have one at home.

I bought a Welch Allyn DuraShock DS45 set at Redding Medical online for around $100. The set included a case, one adult, one large adult, and one pediatric cuff and an interchangeable sphygmanometer (sp?) that is designed to take a beating. Redding Medical is at reddingmedical.com, and is owned by a nurse and her doctor husband. They are very pleasant people and were happy to explain the merits of the different brands of blood pressure sets.

I agree. Having a cuff at home has been a help to me, especially when I was in nursing school. It was important for *me* to truly know how to accurately measure bp with a manual cuff, because to become dependant on electronic ones leaves you in a bind when they fail or don't work. I practiced on my husband, and you may find this helpful. Ultimately, though, if you don't *think* you'll use it (especially if you have access to cuffs at school and can practice on your friends or classmates, who will also have to practice) don't bother buying it. I lost mine after the second semester and didn't get another one until after school, and that was for entirely different reasons. I like having one at home. Secondly, DON'T BUY YOUR SHOES FROM SOME MAN AT SCHOOL! You will be on your feet ALL THE TIME and need some extremely comfortable, well-fitting shoes. I would also suggest that you not get the cheapie, 15 buck ones off the internet either- you can't try them on! If there is ANYTHING you are going to splurge on in nursing, it should be your shoes!!! You need comfortable, well-fitting shoes with great insoles and arch support, lightweight, flexible. Even clogs all fit differently, and should be tried on before buying. I urge you to choose your shoes carefully, and am surprised that no one has said this to you yet! There are some things you will or could possibly need in nursing school. Here's a list, but ultimately, only you know exactly what your program requires and what you will probably end up using vs. something that gets thrown in the closet later.

-Penlight (don't need expensive- can get a couple of cheapies here, but remember that sometimes the little plastic cover comes off the cheapies, and the batteries will run out. If you don't lose things, you could go ahead and get one of the better ones with the replaceable battery, but I'm a chronic thing-loser, so I always buy a handful of the cheapies at once for about two bucks apiece and they last me the year)
-Stethoscope (entirely personal decision)
-Black permanant marker
-Lots of red and black ink pens that write well
-A clipboard or plastic binder (if your program will allow it). I used a binder with clear plastic covers and put helpful stuff in the covers to glance at quickly- like those white clipboards you see for sale but I could personalize it to stuff I actually needed. Those clipboards had crap on it that I didn't use until the last semester, and some of it I didn't use EVER, not even after graduation. I used transparent page protectors inside and made copies of coma scales, graphs, conversions, formulas, etc. and carried it with me- like a little textbook. Also put clinical checkoff steps for skills, etc. I put a binder calculator (that fits over the rings) as well as one of those pencil holdes that has holes in it to fit in a binder and filled it with various things, like extra pens, a small plastic ruler for wound measuring, penlight, etc.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it. ;>)