New Nursing Student: Should I spoil myself with an electronic BP cuff?

[Amcanarn]

I was accepted to a nursing program that begins this summer. Should I purchase an electronic BP cuff that measures pulse, as well? These are a bit costly, but sometimes when I listen through a stethoscope while counting, I miscount or become distracted. Will I be tested on how to use a manual BP cuff?

Also, would you recommend this stethoscope? http://www.allheart.com/3m-littmann-stethoscope/p/31273134/ I know that I'm only a nurse, but as a patient with an obvious heart click that most doctors don't even notice, it's important to me that I learn how to recognize abnormal heart noises.

Thanks.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I can't help but echo some of the comments. You'll need to get good at doing manual BP measurements. I've done somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 over my entire medical career... and have only recently been able to use autoBP units. I prefer the autoBP units for one reason and one reason only: it's a task I can delegate out while I do other assessment tasks. If something is a little "off" then I'll do a manual BP and I'm really fast at it. But you do have to get good at the manual method because your autoBP unit can (and will) fail...