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

But the sister getting the nurse to check her machine is, rather than just getting her bp checked. For the sister to check several times herself at different times
Why take in the machine and get the nurse to check it. The nurse does the bp, the one with the closest reading is kept, the other is binned.

Clearly the sister (and op) are worried about bp. Fine understand but why get a professional in a service already stretched to concentrate on her machine....why not by a third machine, see a pharmacist, borrow her sisters?

Thanks :)

Honestly the amount of comments I've had from people on this thread saying they can't get appointments because of people like me and my disgusting behaviour, when i didnt even request the appointment, only messaged asking advice on our online portal. It was a healthcare assistant who booked the appointment

I've actually cancelled a few appointments I've been given over the past year for things I didn't think really needed an appointment because I know people have more urgent problems that might need them

So to get so many harsh comments saying how disgusting my behaviour is and they can't get appointments because of people like me has proper upset me tonight :(

Not going to bother commenting anymore, but thanks to those of you who have been totally lovely and understood

Thanks. I do know this. It seems @ThisCoolOP Is not so sure with all of the inverted commas. I am wondering why she is questioning the nurses practice.

Do you have any idea how busy nurses are and what theY now have to do to earn shit money? Do you go into a shop at random and ask them to check random machines as well? Get hold of the manufacturer

Yes and that's why we didnt phone up and didnt actually ask for an appointment! It was one of the healthcare assistants at the surgery that booked it and told to take both machines in! No need to be so harsh asking if I go into shops asking them to check random machines. No of course I don't. I didn't even ask them to check, was asked to take both in by the healthcare assistant that booked the appointment

and I amongst other qualifications was a cardiothoracic and ITU nurse and a diastolic pressure of 100 is a cause for concern so the OP did exactly the right thing in seeing the practice nurse
most decent GP practices offer to calibrate your home machine against the machine at their practice for consistency in readings. They should also ensure that tyou are taking the BP correctly, fitting the cuff properly, sitting in the correct position.
The cheap BP machines that you buy for home use do start to fail after a while. I would throw both away and buy a new one.

Indeed. I was invited to take our machine into the surgery so it could be compared to theirs.

If I understand you correctly, @ThisCoolOP, the nurse checked one of your BP machines against the surgery’s one, and found yours was giving the same result as hers. So you can be sure that that one is measuring accurately, which is what you needed to know. Given that, her advice to throw the other one away seems logical to me.

Buy a manual BP monitor and stethoscope and do manual readings yourself.

You were lucky she considered your no machine at all.
As a nurse I won’t get involved with home no kits, just tell folks I can only use the ones verified by my employer.
And yes, as previous people have said, BP varies from moment moment. This would be the case if you were concerned about 1 reading it would potentially be visible in the next.

Buy a 3rd machine.

Two will give similar readings and one will be very different.

Bear in mind that readings vary and can reduce within 15 mins, so do 3 tests one after the other, and take the average.

I would have told you to go to the manufacturer with the machines and asked them to check them over. A Nurse is not a machine technician. We do not calibrate blood pressure machines, im shocked you got past the receptionist to make the appointment.

she wasn't 'lucky'. More and more places tell people to test at home to avoid white coat syndrome.

I've got family members seeing cardiologists and even they suggest home monitoring.

Surprised you query this.

Her advice to bin the other was before she had checked either machine though, which makes me think she had already pre made her mind up which was accurate

OP filled in an online form with her BP readings and was called in to check.

You can't just 'go to the manufacturers' - as if!
You'll save time and energy spending £20 online and buying new ones.

OP instead of raising everyone's BP who's reading put this down to experience, buy another BP monitor and compare the 3.

You're wasting energy on this.

Please read properly. I didn't "get past the receptionist" I didnt phone or get in touch with any receptionist as comments on here are implying! I messaged for advice using our online portal, a healthcare assistant then booked the appointment and told me to take both machines in to be checked. So didnt ask for the appointment myself or "get past the receptionist"

Others harsh nasty comments are the issue. All implying my disgusting behaviour for an appointment i didnt even book myself! :(

Behaving like this and getting so worked up is not helping your BP.

Come off the web, buy another machine ( 3 are unlikely to all be wrong) and put it down to experience. In other words, chill a bit.

Well, step away. You're not achieving anything.

Behaving like this? I'm replying putting people straight who are making out I booked the appointment myself. Not going to sit back and let people say my behaviour is disgusting and people say they can't get appointments because of "people like me" when i wasnt the one who even asked for the appointment!

There are some people actually nice on the thread though who have totally understood and got exactly where I am coming from, I'll just reply to them and ignore the nasty comments instead

Absolutely important to have accurate readings, easily established by going to a pharmacy and not taking up an appointment.

I can quite conclusively say it WAS a wasted appointment given OP doesn't believe the nurse when she confirmed manual vs BP machine, or do you disagree?

Again, that doesn't excuse all the nasty comments from people on this thread saying my behaviour is disgusting and they can't get an appointment because of "people like me"

I didnt book it myself, I asked for advice on our online portal and a healthcare assistant booked the appointment. I did not ask for it

But since she did get the same reading from the machine she tested as from the surgery’s machine, she was right about that, wasn’t she, @ThisCoolOP?

Regardless of whether she had made up her mind ahead of time, she did demonstrate that you do have a BP machine that is giving accurate readings - hopefully that should set your mind at rest.