My Reflection On The Techniques Of Manual Blood Pressure

In this assignment I have been asked, “Using a reflective framework to guide your writing, reflect on learning a clinical skill in the clinical skills laboratory”. As a student of the BSc Nursing Studies (Mental Health) programme, I have completed a module on the “Art and Science of Nursing” (NS4211) where I have learnt various clinical skills to prepare us for our first clinical placement. I have chosen to reflect on the skill of Manual Blood Pressure Measurement. This involved learning the techniques of manual blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope within the clinical skills laboratory classes. Blood pressure can be defined as the pressure of blood within the circulatory system that is measured for diagnosis as it is closely …show more content…
After being thought the basics of the skill through a PowerPoint presentations and through prior reading I had done before class I felt I was prepared to undertake the task. We were paired up with another student nurse in the class in order to practice taking each others blood pressure manually. Using a stethoscope and a cuff called a sphygmomanometer I was ready to take my partners blood pressure. I first made sure my partner was at rest for five minutes so that the blood pressure would be settled and I would get a reliable reading. I then tried to palpated the brachial artery to confirm its position. I lined the arrow on the cuff up with the brachial artery and made sure the cuff wasn’t too tight. I estimated the systolic pressure before taking the arterial blood pressure with my stethoscope. I palpated the radial artery as I found it difficult to do so with the brachial artery. After estimating the systolic pressure through palpation, I put the head of the stethoscope lightly over the brachial artery and inflated the cuff to a pressure that was 20-30mmHg above my estimated systolic pressure. I then deflated the cuff using the valve on the bulb at a steady rate. As I slowly deflated the cuff I heard the pulse return and noted the pressure when I first heard the regular beat. This …show more content…
I think that being able to carry out manual blood pressure is a vital skill to have as a student nurse, so learning the skill of it correctly was of extreme importance to me. The environment in which I was thought the skill in helped tremendously with my learning as each person there was just as eager to learn as me and wanted to get as much out of the clinical skills laboratory as possible. I did sometimes feel like there was not enough room for everyone within the lab. I found that when I was trying to concentrate on carrying out the measurement of blood pressure on my partner, the groups alongside of us were a distraction and caused me to loose focus. Its my opinion that having each pairing that close to each other made the whole thing a little unrealistic as we know that due to confidentiality of patients we would never have that sort of situation in a clinical