Trouble hearing BP sounds, help

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when learning bp i could not hear any body sounds!!!! has anyone had this experience? if so, what did you do?????

thanks to all

made it through my second week of ns!!!!!!:yeah::yeah:

Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

At home I have 2 stethoscopes (just ordered a 3rd but it's a Littman SE Classic 2 or something like that) anyway, one I hear way to much like even stuff in the other rooms of my house, then the other one that was more expensive I can't hardly hear a thing without a lot of pressure, but I can hear enough to practice a BP (far from having the hang of it yet though I have only done like 4 tries on my husband.)

The thing I am sucking at is taking a pulse, everyone appears to be dead :stone

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Specializes in Hospice, Geriatrics, Wounds.

Another good thing to do is to leave the cuff inflated for approx 10-20 seconds after you inflate before starting to deflate. It works for me!!

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Specializes in Forensics, Trauma, Pediatrics,.
it is a matter of training your ear of what to listen for. there is an online virtual b/p cuff you can play around with for practice:

the virtual blood pressure cuff:
http://medicine.osu.edu/exam/
- from ohio state university college of medicine, an interactive guide to physical examination for 8 body systems that includes sounds. has an interactive blood pressure cuff. scroll down the page and click on the "take a blood pressure" link near the bottom of the page. you will be able to hear and watch a blood pressure manometer and tell the program what the final blood pressure is. it re-cycles to give you lots of practice!

i just wanted to say that i really loved the virtual blood pressure cuff! i am a nurses assistant and know how to take a blood pressure, but always had trouble in school. then when i got a job as an assistant we always used the machines, so i always felt sort of out of the loop. i do it at home and such but the same pressure isn't put on you when it is your parents your doing it on. that interactive tool is great, i really loved it! thanks for sharing!

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thanks so much, daytonite for that website. what a wealth of info. however, it is not that i do not recognize the sounds or how the process is done, i have trouble because i can not hear anything in the stethoscope. i think i have a hearing loss and not sure how to proceed. i did not know that or noticed that i had any hearing loss, but know i guess i have to face it. i have a new littman classic ii coming tomorrow and i hope that will help. i was in lab with a lab scope and tried several times with different scopes and still could not hear nothing. i am pretty sure it is my ears. everyone else could hear and get it and i would listen over and over again, only hearing a slight thump a time or two. are there scopes that are better for that purpose? i am in a panic, hoping my career is not over before it begins.......:banghead:

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Just look at the nanometer. When it starts to tick as it's deflating, that's the systolic. When it stops ticking as it's deflating, that's the diastolic. This worked like a charm every time. I couldn't hear the sounds either. They really aren't that necessary. I've been an RN for a while now, and I still remember that check off day. The nursing instructor used one of those double headed nursing steths... and again I couldn't hear anything. So I "cheated" and did what I did described above and she agreed!

Please don't spend much time worrying about this. You need to be studying your lecture content and exams.

And with all due respect, please DO NOT leave the BP cuff inflated for 10-20 seconds. That's very painful to some patients.

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Specializes in Community Health.
Just look at the nanometer. When it starts to tick as it's deflating, that's the systolic. When it stops ticking as it's deflating, that's the diastolic. This worked like a charm every time. I couldn't hear the sounds either. They really aren't that necessary. I've been an RN for a while now, and I still remember that check off day. The nursing instructor used one of those double headed nursing steths... and again I couldn't hear anything. So I "cheated" and did what I did described above and she agreed!

Please don't spend much time worrying about this. You need to be studying your lecture content and exams.

And with all due respect, please DO NOT leave the BP cuff inflated for 10-20 seconds. That's very painful to some patients.

With all due respect I have to disagree with you...I used that method for a while when I was having trouble hearing the sounds, until my CI approached me and informed me that she had just rechecked 5 of my B/P's and they were all innacurate. She told me in no uncertain terms that going off of the nanometer alone doesn't work, as it generally starts ticking a few seconds before the systolic sounds begin.
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Specializes in CICU.

If the problem really is hearing, you should get that checked-out and corrected. If you can't hear the korotkoff sounds with BPs you may not be able to hear lungs sounds, heart sounds, bowel sounds...

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With all due respect I have to disagree with you...I used that method for a while when I was having trouble hearing the sounds, until my CI approached me and informed me that she had just rechecked 5 of my B/P's and they were all innacurate. She told me in no uncertain terms that going off of the nanometer alone doesn't work, as it generally starts ticking a few seconds before the systolic sounds begin.

Hmmm, interesting! It worked for me! (then again I haven't used a manual BP cuff since the first few weeks of nursing school!)

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Specializes in Community Health.
Hmmm, interesting! It worked for me! (then again I haven't used a manual BP cuff since the first few weeks of nursing school!)
I think it's one of those things that is probobly different once you get into the "real world" of nursing, but as students they expect you to be by the book for everything. Although I will say that sometimes I use that method when it's really hard to hear the diastolic and it seems pretty accurate for that...
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Specializes in IMCU.
Palpating the brachial pulse is very helpful. However, I would like to suggest that marking a patient's skin with ink or a fingernail is not a good idea. Just my :twocents:.

Agreed! That raised my eyebrows.

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thanks so much, daytonite for that website. what a wealth of info. however, it is not that i do not recognize the sounds or how the process is done, i have trouble because i can not hear anything in the stethoscope. i think i have a hearing loss and not sure how to proceed. i did not know that or noticed that i had any hearing loss, but know i guess i have to face it. i have a new littman classic ii coming tomorrow and i hope that will help. i was in lab with a lab scope and tried several times with different scopes and still could not hear nothing. i am pretty sure it is my ears. everyone else could hear and get it and i would listen over and over again, only hearing a slight thump a time or two. are there scopes that are better for that purpose? i am in a panic, hoping my career is not over before it begins.......:banghead:

hello, fellow antique, lol......i have a moderate hearing loss, and can hear most bp's....my hearing loss is fairly obvious when trying to carry on a convrsation....if you are not having problems (be honest) with day to day conversation, i would say it has to be technique....but at our advanced age, a hearing test would be a good thing anyway.....and they do hav electronic amph. steths....good luck

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Did you tap your scope while it was in your ears to test it? Some scopes turn off by twisting 180 degrees by the bell.

HAHAHA. I was wondering why I couldn't hear anything on my new steth that got rave reviews.. thought it was my hearing. Good thing I opened this thread LOL. A little turn, and I can hear everything (: Thanks!

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