To think this nurse was unprofessional?

[ThisCoolOP]

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

Hold on. The machines work on everyone else bar your sister? The one the nurse tested was the same as the one she used at the surgery? Use that one then!

No it was not the same machine as the nurse used at the surgery. They use the old manual way at the surgery

Was it your GP or your sisters GP?

Oh the irony of you having a go at other people for not reading comments!

You're choosing which comments to answer!

Not the same machine the same reading?

My sisters GP. We are at the same surgery!

OP - is your machine that the nurse tested in the surgery showing the higher blood pressure reading or the normal one when used at home?

Fucking hell OP either go get your own nursing degree or believe the nurse you saw. And stop hassling your GP, online or by phone, for your own tech support. Jesus Christ.

So let's see if I've got this right. The nurse took a blood pressure with one machine. She then took a manual blood pressure (a very quick process) which matched that machine. So she then told you that machine was the accurate one, because it matched the manual BP. But you won't now use the confirmed reliable BP machine because you've got your knickers in a twist about the machine she didn't check, because she'd already proved the first machine was the accurate one.

No I'm not, I'm making an effort to reply to every comment! Those negative and positive!

I don’t know about anyone else but my bp is rising.

Ok, and can you answer my previous question, what do you mean by a manual check? Was this an independent check using their devices?

So why are you and your sister going to the GP together? Are you not adults?

I see. Well in the GP practices blood pressure monitors are calibrated every year or less. Do they maybe have a monitor you could borrow ( usually a small deposit is required). Or just buy a brand new one which will have been calibrated prior to leaving the factory. That way you can be sure.

Because the post and the updates are convulted, if the two machines give you two almost identical readings, and you have high blood pressure, it's totally irrelevant what they show to anyone else, and for another person to book appointment is, again, a total waste of time. If you are worried about your bloos pressure you book the appointment to check, but there are no issues with the machines for you, so again, it's a non-issue rather as you get correct readings.
Good you didnt send your sister to A&E with this.

Why have you got 2 machines? What is your actual complaint, that the nurse falsified her reading? You preferred to have your BP checked 3 times unnecessarily just to see which machine was accurate because there's a difference in your sisters systolic, who wasnt even there at your appointment , when she takes it at least twice? Maybe an hca shouldn't be triaging patients, you may have got a different answer from a nurse or doctor,

Actually, patients are encouraged to use the online portal! If the problem can't be dealt with by the surgery they tell you so, but the person who triaged instead booked an appointment and said to take both machines in to check accuracy for home monitoring. ....

Which the nurse did. You just do t believe her. I see you’ve been asked before. Higher or lower than yours?

This is clearly the issue. Can’t believe it’s being discussed

Well a hca is triaging appointments, that's not our fault is it?

The nurse checked your sister’s blood pressure on the surgery monitor then checked her blood pressure on one of your monitors. As the readings were similar then she didn’t need to check your other monitor as the nurse knows her monitor is accurate hence her telling you to bin the unchecked one.

Did you ask if that was on a nurse or doctors advice

What do you mean higher or low than mine? Both machines are mine haha

Why should I have to ask if the appointment they've booked was on a nurse or doctors advice? Surely they've been trained on what needs an appointment and what doesn't?

I spend a lot of time measuring blood pressures and interpreting those results in different contexts. It doesn't matter if today's readings were high - you would probably expect it to be higher because you were at the GP practice. What matters is that your machine correlated with the practice one. Now, when you go home you know that that machine is giving useful results. And the numbers may well be slightly lower because you're at home and that's fine, but, if you took the nurses machine home it would also give lower numbers than today because you'd be using it at home. If your readings at home are lower it would suggest that today's numbers had a white coat element to them. But, if your readings at home using the machine she's validated are as high as they were in clinic then you have hypertension that needs addressing. When it comes to interpreting the numbers the GP probably will look at what it was at home and what it was in clinic, but the thresholds for making a diagnosis are different for readings taken at home vs at clinic - they're not idiots. There is, fwiw, a school of thought that a white coat response probably isn't as innocent as everyone on MN thinks, but the GP will know that and will be able to use all of the results in the context of the rest of your medical history to come up with a plan for you. What matters most right now is that the nurse has said she believes the machine of yours that she tested is reliable enough.