I was a doctor for more than 20 years before I knew this…
I wondered why the automatic blood pressure machine at work seemed so inaccurate! But one of the inspectors for the medical supplies was at our old office a couple years ago and I asked him. He said that these machines “listen” to sounds as well as detecting the heart beat in the artery on your arm. Loud noises, especially intermittent, can give inaccurate readings.
I had a patient in my office last week who was pretty stressed out. As I checked her BP with the automatic cuff, I let her talk about something pleasant. It should help her BP, right? Well, her number was high. So I rechecked her BP as we both sat quietly. I would think that concentrating on the squeezing of her arm might make the BP higher. But nope, it was much lower this time when she was not talking.
So that was my non-scientific experiment. Yes, being quieter while using your automatic BP machine is important.
Never stop learning!
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis. Its always useful to read content from other authors and practice something from other web sites.