StudentLPN88

Hello! I am a level 1 LPN student and so far our clinicals have been in long term care facilities. I have found that I've been having difficulty obtaining blood pressure on my older patients and it's really stressing me out! I know how to take blood pressure, but listening for the heartbeat (the systolic) has been giving me trouble. Also it seems that just finding the brachial pulse has been more difficult on my older patients because they seem to all be very faint. The brand of stethoscope that I've been using is called "Prestige", but I hear the Littmann stethoscopes are pretty good, but the ones I've looked at have been pretty pricey. Are they worth it though? Or is there an even better brand to use other than Littmann? Any tips/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Thank you all very much for your feedback! I am definitely just gonna try and relax. The advice helped calm my nerves! :)

Help! I am so nervous about my first LPN clinical at the nursing home in 2 days! We had orientation last Wednesday, but we literally just watched videos in the break room for 3 hours and then left. The videos didn't even cover documentation, which is what I am gonna have to be doing come first thing Monday morning! I am very overwhelmed about the whole documentation procedure. I just need a plan on how to go about it. When I walk into my patients room do I first take vitals, document, health history, document, physical assessment, document, etc? (I have never worked in a medical setting before so I am completely lost and overwhelmed!) Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated! :)