Do you trust automatic "vitals" machines??

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At our hospital the CNA's use "robo nurses" to take vitals. It is relatively fast for them, taking BP and pulse and o2 sats at the same time. However the more I work, the less I trust them. It seems like one night the CNA reports all my pts. BP's are up, another night they are low. Or they can't get the machine to work. I take them manually to check. Sometimes I agree with the machine, sometimes not. Also the pulse ox seems weird. It will often show lower sats then the hand held machine.

When I was in RN school we were told to not use these machines, but the BP cuffs in the rooms are not always in good shape either. I do prefer to check my pts. pulses on both sides during an assessment if I can and at the same time I can accurately check respirations.

What do you all think about these machines? Does your facility use them???

Oh I wasnt talking about the OR and PACU vitals which are hooked up to monitors and I am sure are VERY accurate! I was indicating the rolling "robo nurse" that the CNAs wheel from pt. to pt on the floors.

Thanks everyone, I will definately bring up the contamination factor and the idea of indiviual cuffs per pt. that could be cleaned by CS in between.

I cant count the number of times an aid has come to me with a low pulse ox reading and they didnt realize the machine needs certain perameters to read correctly, like a good pulse. :)

when my grandfather was passing on i was in hospital with him- the RT came in for a sat and he couldnt get a reading - i said here use this hand ( the one i had been hoolding that i had been wiping periodically along with his brow ) cause his other hand was on the other side of bed and under the covers yet cool and clamy and i said that may be interfering as the reading relies on circualtion so i thouht - he said that isnt the problem it just isnt working - he never did come back to get one with a "working" unit - the nurse said he wined about my voicing up to him and the nurse let him know that i was a nurse and just might have a clue to what was wrong - the nurse came in washed his hands - dried them - warmed em ( whilke washing them up ) and did get a sadly low sat -

question: had my bp taken the other day manually by nurse in Doctor's office. The nurse commented "160/100...sounds like it is time for medicine...." the doctor came in and didnt even mention it. Does blood pressure just hop up like that from time to time, or does it need treatment?

can - called white coat syndrome- some folks get really high when going to docs ( me im opposite - i get lower at doc- we laugh cause its the only place i go without kids and or stress LOL)

at the very least the doc shoudl have redone it an of still high recommend you come in for 2 or 3 sepearate VS visits - as high b/p is actually diagnosed on continuos high b/p not just one incident here and there.

If the automatic vital machines are so inaccurate, why do hospitals still use them?

According to most of you, these machines are not reliable. Maybe the hospitals should be made aware for the safety of the clients, to go back to the manual way to take vitals. I personally think if these machines are use probably they will do the job right. I use them at the hospital where I am working as a nursing student tech. So far, they are accurate. I always make sure to use the right size cuff and put it the right way. The nurses usually get similar readings when recheck manually. If you having out of wack readings, maybe it it time to alert the supervisor of the problem.

proper education on how to use them is a must and yes- they do need to be double checked for accuracy in my opinion at least monthly in case of droppage or anything that coud cause it to go awry - ( i had one cna who told me days later she dropeed my cuff - told her i wasnt mad - accidents happen especialy on our wing where we have combative people but necxt time to please tell me right away so that we can double check to be sure it wasnt broken or whatever.)

Totally didn't read all 7 pages of this but in my old hospital you COULDN'T check a BP manually. The hospital didn't have manual cuffs. One time I couldn't get our monitor to get a reading on a kiddo, did everything trouble shooting I could do, looked for a manual cuff and there wasn't one in the entire floor. Couldn't believe it.

this happens way to often - in geriatrics its never having a big or small cuff ( which need both, rarely is the "regular" one the right size lol) though expensive- i invested in all my own equipment - have electronic and manual - and i also feel better cause i KNOW they are correct ( i check them often) and they are clean ( i make sure they are on my own time)

i even carry my own thermometer ( use thier covers - lol i dont feel i need to supply those also lol) cause the last job i jhad had 2 thermometers that worked for 4 wings- umm yeah - that was a joke.

i even get laughed at cause i crry my own handheld pedal doppler - lol - love ebay hahaha. dont have oone in the nursing home - but they were gla i wsa working one day - they ctually had to use it.

In controlled trials automatic NIBPMs perform constantly more accurate then manual auscultation. I will add this involves proper size and placement of cuff. If you have frequent errors (everybody's pressure is up or down) it is far more likely operator error than machine

I never liked the auto vitals machine. I have seen way too many errors,

Remember the trials are controlled. What unit these days can duplicate a controlled trial's methods?

Hello, Although the machines are quick, I do not think they are reliable. This is a good question to ask us. :nurse:

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Short answer NO.

Longer answer, only if *I* put the cuff on and watch it myself,AND have a sphyg and stet in my pocket. So going through all that why not just take the bp yourself?

So short and long ansewer NO.

At our hospital the CNA's use "robo nurses" to take vitals. It is relatively fast for them, taking BP and pulse and o2 sats at the same time. However the more I work, the less I trust them. It seems like one night the CNA reports all my pts. BP's are up, another night they are low. Or they can't get the machine to work. I take them manually to check. Sometimes I agree with the machine, sometimes not. Also the pulse ox seems weird. It will often show lower sats then the hand held machine.

When I was in RN school we were told to not use these machines, but the BP cuffs in the rooms are not always in good shape either. I do prefer to check my pts. pulses on both sides during an assessment if I can and at the same time I can accurately check respirations.

What do you all think about these machines? Does your facility use them???

We use the Machine for taking Vital signs. It might not be as accurate, but close. Also, we don't just rely on Vital Signs. I mean what's the difference of the reading pulse of the machine the result 86, and by counting it by palpate is 89?

The school were told us not to use the machines, because they wanted us to learn the basics.

Specializes in So far Emergency Department.

I think that automatic vital machines are alright. The thing is you have to also take in your patients appearance, complaints (if any), and reason for being in the the shape they are in whether it is a hospital, clinic, longterm facility, etc. Though you are using a machine to take v/s rather than manually you need to still use all your senses and think about what is going on. Gardengirl08:nurse:

Specializes in Critical Care.

What's a BP machine for when you can simply do an art line? :D

Specializes in ER, Med/Surg.

Be sure to not put the pulse ox probe on the same side as the BP cuff. Your "saved" readings will always show a lower O2 sat because of the lack of blood flow.

I agree that these machines are accurate enough for most things.

Some people have been saying that they would check it manual if the machine had a funny reading, but wouldn't you recheck yourself, or have someone else if you got a funny reading?

I find the ones we use are pretty accurate. Like many people have said, if the number is unusual I recheck Manually. Often though the auto is really close.

Completely on the ball accurate VS's are less important than, "How is my pt doing?" and having the time to do a good total assessment.

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