one-handed or two-handed manual bp cuff?

[Cinquefoil]

I work in LTC. Nuff said.

Looking to get a new cuff as mine has been thrashed - dial plastic busted (literally chipped out in the shape of a Jesus fish - a miracle!- so you can touch the dial needle), paint on side of dial casing chipped, fabric stained - YUCK! I think also it's begun to read low, though it still gets within ballpark of what the other aides get when they read VS.

I was looking on Amazon.com for a new one and saw a picture of a palm-style one, with a trigger release. I am tempted, very tempted. It looks so sexy. One hand, no more getting the tubes tangled up in the rush and speed of taking up to 25 sets of VS within about 30 minutes across a long, narrow building. No more sticking of the release valve dial. No more trying to figure out where to clip the gauge so I can see it AND it will stick in all the odd positions our residents get in to.

But, is my old sweetheart the two-tube style better? The dial may stick sometimes, but it let me control how fast the air went out - quickly for the residents with strong pulse sounds, slowly for the lady whose own doctor has trouble getting a reading from her. Also, then I COULD stick the gauge dial anywhere to eliminate glare.

Help me! Some of these products have no customer reviews on Amazon and without those I am lost! LOL

[dixiebelleRN]

My advise as an aide (or well I will be one until Nov. 1st :) ) would be buy it, use it compair it, I don't tend to like the automatic ones becuase they're not as accurate, so as long as it's the manuel palm style, I'd say go for it :)

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Hey can you post the link for that one. I've been looking for something similar. I'm all thumbs when it comes to blood pressures

[Cinquefoil]

Amazon.com: Ri-San Aneroid Sphygmomanometer, Adult, Blue: Health more

here ya go. You'll need to click on "gray" to see what the whole setup looks like.

I ended up ordering one. I'll let you know how it works!

[Cinquefoil]

I tried to edit for clarity, but it'd been over an hour since I posted. So this is a clearer version of what I said before. :)

Amazon.com: Ri-San Aneroid Sphygmomanometer, Adult, Blue: Health more

Here ya go. The display will pop up showing only the dial/bulb part. To the R of that picture there will be the option of several color choices for the sphygmomanometer. You'll need to click on "gray" to see what the whole setup looks like.

I ended up ordering one. I'll let you know how it works! I'm excited to see, and if it sucks, well, I'm out postage but not much else.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Is it only for the gauge or do you get a cuff as well?

[Cinquefoil]

The results are in, and I :heartbeat my new one-tubed BP cuff!

And yes, the cuff comes included. It's not just the dial! The one sad thing is that the cuff part is basic black and does not come in any of the colors the dials come in.

Overall, the dial is large and easy to read. The cuff goes on just as easy as the other one I had, and maybe even easier due to the fact that there aren't as many tubes to juggle.

The air releases by trigger rather than by dial, but I can still control the speed of release with different degrees of pressure. My one trouble so far is that if my trigger finger is shaky this throws my whole reading off and I have to start over, but heck, that's something I can learn to prevent.

I also have more trouble stuffing the whole kit into my fanny pack for convenient room-to-room dashing. However, I'm still happy because it saves time - with the two-tube design I had to find somewhere to clip or lay my dial and because you can't depend on someone with dementia to keep their arm still I couldn't just keep it clipped to the cuff. Now this is no longer an issue because the dial as well as the bulb is in my hand being held steady. YAAY! Thumbs up on this kind of BP cuff.