AMA Looks to Retrain Doctors on Taking Blood Pressures

Measuring blood pressure is thought of as a fundamental skill, but is it being performed correctly? The American Heart Association and American Medical Association has released an on-line refresher course for HCPs to brush up on their knowledge and technique. Continue reading to find out why physicians are being targeted for this training. Nurses Headlines News

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beckysue920

134 Posts

Specializes in Psych, HIV/AIDS.

My PMP always checks my BP with her own cuff...it's always amazed me.

When I was taught BPing, we were told never to put your thumb on the stethoscope hub because your own pulse may be what is being recorded. Has anyone ever been taught this? Countless people almost always put their thumb on it when they take mine.

JKL33

6,777 Posts

6 hours ago, beckysue920 said:

When I was taught BPing, we were told never to put your thumb on the stethoscope hub because your own pulse may be what is being recorded.

No...because that makes absolutely zero sense.

It sounds like someone got confused and meant to advise you not to take someone's pulse with your own thumb (?)

13 hours ago, beckysue920 said:

When I was in school we were also taught to not hold our thumb over the ball for the same reason.

Dln14

97 Posts

Placing a BP cuff on bare skin is very hard to accomplish in a busy IM office where the patient is wearing nothing but a long sleeve shirt. Especially when the patient is already late and cutting into your 15 minute appointments with the NP/MD.

Tenebrae, BSN, RN

1,951 Posts

Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
On 11/29/2019 at 1:42 AM, OUxPhys said:

I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a physician take a manual BP.

I struggle to remember last time I saw a nurse take a manual BP.

Electric machines are fine, however I think they make it too easy to loose skills

Bestin69

6 Posts

I’ve have had to be in a lot of different physicians offices and be seen by a lot of them over the last 6 years. I’ve noticed a trend in almost all of them except in PCP’s office. My B/P isn’t taken. Even sometimes in the ER? And when it is taken, especially in the ER, they don’t want to tell me. I have RSD/CRPS II, and a couple other diagnosis that have rendered me disabled. I was taught in nursing school that B/P has direct correlation with someone who is saying they are experiencing pain. With this disease/syndrome, flare ups are harsh and my blood pressure goes through the roof. 5 years after being diagnosed, I’ve researched this in every possible way, the disease/syndrome. I’ve learned a lot from medical journals, published medical articles etc. not just was posted online. So I’ve acquired some knowledge as to how to manage it. But it is insidious and sometimes i don’t even know what triggered the flare up. I do not take routine pain meds for the every day 24/7-365 pain, partly due to the fact I am lucky enough to have anaphylactic reactions to any and all opiates. While I was still working, I dispensed said narcotics using gloves. But it seems that this diagnosis has been deemed “rare.” And hard to diagnose. But a lot of what I’ve read, it isn’t really that “rare.” 1.5- 6 million people in the USA alone suffer from this, November is supposed to be RSD/CRPS month, but it hasn’t gained a lot of motion. They have nick named it the “Suicide Disease” due to the fact that it is under-diagnosed, and people give up. I’ve no plans to give up. But the fact that they are so reluctant to bring my pain down, and do not seem concerned about my severe increase in B/P during flare ups, causes me great concern. I am afraid of stroking out. I’m not talking a slight increase I am talking numbers like 244/138. I’ve been sent home from the hospital with my B/P like this. This terrifies me immensely. I am still licensed in 30 states, but I am unable to do the physical part and I do have some cognitive issues with this also. But the B/P issue bothers me a lot. I’m afraid one day I will have a stroke over something I’ve no control over. I think it should be done in every physicians office as well as the hospitals not discharging a patient with a B/P that high. And if I bring it up, I get schooled. Any ideas on how to change this?

2BS Nurse, BSN

700 Posts

I had a hypertensive patient rechecked by a MD. She came out of the room saying she got a much lower BP reading so she could let the patient go. Um, no. I know what I heard!!!

Tweety, BSN, RN

34,248 Posts

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

My doctor wanted to confirm a high reading the MA got and rechecked using excellent technique. The MA's reading matched his. Never knew this was an issue.

Just me.

85 Posts

For years I only did b/p checks with a dinamap. I got confused listening to manual readings, the different korotcov/korotcoff sounds when I was required to start checking them this way. I did practices online thru Youtube to retrain myself. IF someone re-rechecks, and says something drastically different, I know what I heard.

nursej22, MSN, RN

3,820 Posts

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

I have seen cardiologists doing inpatient consults do their own BP measurements on both arms.

My dh's PCP requested daily bp measurements at home, specifically using the 2 step process (inflate then deflate the cuff while palpating the pulse, wait, then recheck using the stethoscope), so I think he knows his stuff.

Specializes in EMT/CPT/Outpatient Care/LTC.

CMA's are probably better at taking BP's than you would think. They do it all day long in most clinics, and manually at that. They are given this training in most good CMA school's, as they are replacing RN's now, because they work for less. As an EMT-B, in the field, our Paramedics rely on our accuracy in critical moments. You can bet you're * we do it correctly and train those coming in to do it correctly.

AnonymousSuper

1 Article; 40 Posts

Specializes in Supervisor.

No surprise here.

Just like any skill. If you don't use it, you lose it.

Yes, we all should be competent at taking a blood pressure.

It's not personal. Nothing wrong with revisiting the basics.