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

Good grief.

My mum had a stroke and is on blood pressure medication.

She has to call the surgery if her readings are too low/too high on her blood pressure machine, and she’ll be seen by a practice nurse same day who will take her blood pressure.

If the machine appeared faulty and she couldn’t get an accurate reading, then she would be seen and have her blood pressure taken.

I assume the OP’s relative has a reason for taking her blood pressure daily and needing to know which measurement is accurate.

Why is that shocking?

No I have not made my mind up about it happening, I've wrote exactly as it happened! My sister is the one with the BP problem and the couple of paragraphs where it says I, should say my sister. I'd sent it to a friend i know and missed changing a couple of the I's!

It’s not the responsibility of the practice to tell you which machine is correct! If it had been I’d have told you to bin both of them! Home monitoring is notoriously unrealisable as machines aren’t regularly calibrated, incorrect positioning of the cuff affects it along with which arm you use! Add to which you are supposed to record the best of 3 with each measurement around 5 minutes apart!

I can't believe how many people are giving you a hard time OP, for doing exactly what your practice advises and booking an appointment. I agree with you that you need to establish which machine is correct, because you are testing for 7 days. Why test on a faulty machine for 7 days, submit the results, find they are wrong and have to do it all over again? That would be a waste of NHS resources. How long would it actually take for the health professional to test you twice? Minutes. (Your practice booked you in with a nurse, but they could have booked you in with someone else. Their choice).
And for those suggesting the OP should test on a pharmacy machine or a GP practice machine, coming straight in off the street and testing is not ideal. The guidelines say to wait for 15 mins to let your BP settle. Also, as someone else mentioned, BP varies throughout the day.
Good luck in getting to the bottom of it OP. Once established that you are testing correctly you will feel much more confident about the process.
All these shirty comments are enough to raise your blood pressure ! 😄

Why are you pretending to be your sister when writing to a friend?

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

Did the nurse do a manual reading, as in put a cuff on, pump it up and release?

Why are you doubting that it's 150/100 if she actually went through the motions of doing the reading?

The white coat high blood pressure is a problem though. I have it too but normally my doctor just mentally knocks off a few points to decide whether it's ok or not.

Basically because she wanted the nurse to tell her which machine to use! That’s not a nurses job so no wonder the nurse got hacked off!

It's not your doctor's office's job to check or manage your home medical equipment. They weren't rude.

If the readings are high, go to the pharmacy for a BP check or where there's a machine, or make an appointment for you or your sister, whoever's having the high readings, to be seen and have medication adjusted if necessary.

This thread has sent my blood pressure up

You could have dealt with this yourself within an hour at a pharmacy. By all means call the GP if you've got high BP, but not just in case one of your machines might be faulty. Bloody check first. What a waste of the nurses time.

I think engaging is a waste of time. OP is clearly an unreliable narrator. I just hope she doesn't make trouble for the poor nurse.

Really? It’s not down to the practice to tell her which machine is correct! If every person with a blood pressure machine booked an appointment for just this there would be absolutely no appointments! GP generally give the patient a range to get concerned about and that’s when they should get it checked!

Sorry I'm not sure what they are supposed to have done wrong? She checked the BP manually against the BP given on one of the machines and it was correct, so one of the machines is correct, which is great. Job done. What was the wrong-doing here?

They suggest random home monitoring not obsessive home monitoring!

"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".
I am not sure why you keep referring to you in this scenario and your anxiety?

Perhaps with your severe health anxiety you may not be the best person to accompany your sister to her appointments.

home monitoring is completely standard these days and, outside of the context of a few vascular conditions, it doesn't really matter which arm you use because they should be roughly the same. Where there is a big difference between arms that's a different problem to bog-standard hypertension. Cuff size (more than positioning) can be a problem, particularly at the extremes of weight.

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.

A nurses role is to take blood pressure and let the patient know the reading. This nurse most definitely was not unprofessional.

It's not obsessive!!!! Honestly. As someone else has pointed out which is more a waste of resources?????? 1 appointment to check both machines and use the one closest to a manual reading

Or pick one machine, fill out a 7 day diary and find out treatment is wrong to then have to do it all over again???

Ring the local chemist and ask them whether you can calibrate your BP machines there.

Ours does bp readings.

BP is serious!

So you took up an appointment for that?! Wow 🤨

Of course it is @ThisCoolOP

Some people are just dicks.

You’re taking about a 10 or 15 difference , blood pressure medication isn’t going to suddenly mean you / your sister are dangerously low pressure - my blood pressure goes from about 85 to 110 on a very good day

But that is the thing....
Had she actually checked both machines to see how far out each one was, that would have set mind at rest. And would have been able to fill out the diary knowing which was actually most accurate
But the nurse had made her mind up from the beginning which was correct. If she'd have actually been nice about it, not straight away off hand "just bin that one, I'm only checking this one" kind of thing. But she seemed to make her mind up from the beginning and reading exactly the same number of the screen to me