Need Help with Blood Pressures; First-Timer

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Hello. I am in nursing school, and I performed my first blood pressure today. Well, at least I attempted to perform them. I was wondering if any of you nurses were as nervous and stressed out as I was about them when you learned them.

First, I put kept putting on the stethoscope backwards. Then, I had the volume on low (I didn't even think about adjusting that!). :confused: And at other times, I had a classmate setup, but I couldn't hear anything because I forgot to put on my steth!:imbar Also, I couldn't really hear any clear lub dubs, and forget about finding a brachial pulse manually. I felt like an idiot. :banghead: However, as I kept at it, I did hear a few beats, but they never really sounded very clear. I could hear the heart stopping when I let the air out of the BP cuff, but most of the time, it was difficult to hear the heart stop when I inflated it. I am frustrated that I had so much trouble with it, so I wanted to know how long it took for you nurses to get the hang of taking blood pressures, and if you had any tips to help me. :)

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Specializes in EMS~ ALS.../...Bartending ~ Psych :).

Frist of all, don't fret, you will get the hang of it soon and it will be like second nature to you. Second, I'm not a nurse yet, but was a paramedic for several years, and had to do BPs in the back of an noisey ambulance going down the highway. So trust me when I say it will get easier. However, just in my opinion, I never liked the volumn controlled steths. actually I pretty much hate them:madface:!! So if you are having a difficult time hearing, you may want to try a diff. type and see if that works better for you. Also, I pointed the ear peices toward the front of my ears and it was like night and day. So just practice, practice, practice on anyone and everyone that will let you. Once you know for sure what you are listening for, you will be amazed at how easy it is to get one.

Good luck to you

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I know exactly how you feel.

We did Blood Pressure in our A&P 2 Lab last week.

It was disasterous. I couldn't hear anything. I hope things get better when I actually get into my Nursing Program. :(

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Specializes in Cardiac, Adolescent/Child Mental Health.

Make sure your earpieces are a good fit. Also, I prefer the squishy ones since they seem to form a better seal in my ears. And make sure you have a decent quality stethoscope. The tubing and diaphragms in the better ones do make a difference. You'll need a good one when you start auscultating heart and lungs anyways.

Be patient with yourself. You'll have it down in no time!:p

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

If you don't have your own Bp cuff go out and get one and practice on anyone who sits/stands still for long enough! You can purchase them for very little money from places like CVS and even K-Mart.

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Specializes in Home Health/PD.

I agree with what everyone is saying with practice practice practice! Also, if you are still hearing a heart beat when you inflate the cuff, go ahead and inflate it even more because the patients bp might be very high.

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Specializes in district nurse, ccu, geriatric.
Make sure your earpieces are a good fit. Also, I prefer the squishy ones since they seem to form a better seal in my ears. And make sure you have a decent quality stethoscope. The tubing and diaphragms in the better ones do make a difference. You'll need a good one when you start auscultating heart and lungs anyways.

Be patient with yourself. You'll have it down in no time!:p

I agree totally, I had lots of trouble hearing anything with the cheap stethoscopes in nursing school. When I realised that the earpiece wasn't positioned right it did make a world of difference, and then I bought my own good quality one. Also, do yourself a favour, when you start working in the hospital, if they have the automatic machines, on a quite shift, use the manual sphygmo. On district nursing we have new staff, who have to have at least 2 years experience, and are not confident in attending blood pressures manually. That's sad.

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Specializes in Clinic.

In school many of us had a hard time hearing the first lub dub. The last one is easy. Use the diaphragm side and not the bell. Tap on it to be sure its the right way and put it in the crease of the elbow close to the inside of the arm (where the artery is). I had a hard time remembering both numbers. Then I would say the top number in my head and as soon I finish I tell the pt what their bp is. By saying it out loud it helps me to remember for charting.

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In school many of us had a hard time hearing the first lub dub. The last one is easy. Use the diaphragm side and not the bell.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. The steth I got from the nursing school is a Littman. I have a question about what side to use. First, I have to admit that I thought that only one side, the diaphragm, was the only one that could be used. However, now that I read some posts from other members, some mention that using the opposite side, the bell, would be better because the Korotkoff sounds are low frequency. Does it really matter what side I use? (I've been using the diaphragm, since that is what I've seen nurses do.)

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