The automatic blood pressure machine has been giving extremely low readings so one of the nurses brought in an "old school" manual pump. They blame the inaccuracy on the fact that my mom has a very slim arm and the cuff is too big for her. My mom's blood pressure reading has ranged from 77/48 to 110/60 in just one sitting, depending on who does the reading and which machine she uses. This seems quite arbitrary to me. Though I have always been wary of the nurse squeezing my arm tight with a cuff then relying on her counting to determine my blood pressure. What if her mind wanders? What if she blanks out for a few seconds? Does she just make up numbers? It doesn't help to Google these questions because the internet is full of articles about how most blood pressure readings are wrong, how people's BP spike when medical personnel walk into the room and how cuff sizes really do affect your BP reading. Thanks, internet.The nurses and techs measure my mom's vitals every 2 hours since at this point of her neutropenic state (<0.4 WBC count), she is at high risk for infection, which can also lead to sepsis. Indications of sepsis include high fever and low blood pressure. If her temperature ever reaches 100F, we need to take action! Therefore, she gets a visit from the Patient Care Tech (PCT) every two hours for her temperature and blood pressure readings. Since she is a neutropenic, they also leave her own machines in the room so they are not shared with everyone else on the hall. Below are the two machines. I think they make quite the cute cross generation couple.
Left: Manual Blood Pressure Machine, Right: Automatic Blood Pressure, Oxygen, Temperature Machine