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AIBU?

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To think this nurse was unprofessional?

383 replies

ThisCoolOP · 19/06/2025 17:06

So I went for an appointment at my GP surgery to try and verify the accuracy of two home blood pressure monitors we have in our house. The two monitors give virtually identical readings to each other for everyone in our family - but for my sister one reads 10 - 15 points lower than the other on thr systolic number.

During the appointment, my sister attempted to explain the situation and that she wanted to compare both machines against a manual reading. The nurse immediately told her to "just bin" one of the machines without any attempt to even compare it

The nurse then proceeded to only check one of the machines (the one that reads lower). When the machine displayed a reading of 150/100, she then performed a "manual check" and literally immediately stated "yeah 150/100". Might be just me, but this rapid confirmation seems like the nurse was simply just re-stating the reading she had seen on the machines screen (literally told me her reading was the exact same number) rather than conducting a genuine, independent manual verification. Her pre-judgement of which machine was correct was evident from the beginning, as she refused to consider checking the second machine, despite my clear explanation of the discrepancy of both machines for me, but identical readings for the rest of the family

As a result, I was left in the exact same position I was in before the appointment. I actually suffer from anxiety and came back in tears at how sharp and unhelpful she had been, and because it seemed she had made her mind up there and then she was only checking one machine and that was the correct one (despite them giving the same readings for everyone else), i don't trust what she told me at all

OP posts:
zeibesaffron · 19/06/2025 17:18

Just do 3 readings each time and take the average.

And no she wasn’t unprofessional probably just exasperated!

CrackOnThen · 19/06/2025 17:17

Why was your sister talking about her blood pressure at your appointment?

khaa2091 · 19/06/2025 17:16

There’s always the option of going to a pharmacist….

IsANameImportant · 19/06/2025 17:15

Blood pressure changes from one minute to the next. Both machines might be correct. You don’t need to use a nurse appointment for this. If your sister needs to know her blood pressure and doesn’t trust the machines she could get a BP check done at a pharmacy or buy a new BP machine.

On another note, has your sister made a GP appointment about her BP? That reading was a bit high.

Jabberwok · 19/06/2025 17:15

You weren't there and if your sister is anything like my sil it didn't happen that way.

why did she waste an appointment on something so trivial, did she test the machine home readings several times at different times of the day?

screwyou · 19/06/2025 17:14

I am only shocked a Nurse would waste her time with you under these circumstances and I am a Nurse.

ThisCoolOP · 19/06/2025 17:14

sparepantsandtoothbrush · 19/06/2025 17:10

You used a GP appointment because you weren't sure if your blood pressure machines were working correctly??

Hi, I take blood pressure medication and had been getting very high readings on one the machines 170/100 as an example. The NHS website actually advises to contact the surgery for readings of that level. So i messaged on our online portal stating the problem is had, that one machine was giving very high readings and one low. It was one of the receptionist that booked the appointment

OP posts:
sparepantsandtoothbrush · 19/06/2025 17:10

You used a GP appointment because you weren't sure if your blood pressure machines were working correctly??