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If blood pressure can now be checked electronically, why do nurses still need stethoscopes?

I understand why doctors need the stethoscopes, but I thought that nurses just used them for blood pressure. But now there are machines that check blood pressure electronically...

Do nurses still carry around stethoscopes and use them?

5 Answers

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    No, nurses check bowel sounds following surgery, and must chart when the bowel sounds return. They should listen to lung sounds during each patient's daily assessment. Some nurses also listen to heart sounds depending upon the unit on which they work. Much of the patient's response to disease and treatment is detected and reported to us by the RN.

    Also, although blood pressures can be screened electronically, I would not prescribe a drug based on many of those devices. A conventional aneroid sphygmomanometer (conventional blood pressure cuff) is preferred my many physicians. Best wishes.

    Source(s): prof. of medicine
  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    with the intention to diploma blood rigidity you elect a blood rigidity video reveal. you are able to't do this with a stethoscope. besides the undeniable fact that, in the experience that your pulse is rapid ie. you count variety greater effective than eighty beats per minute, then that's in all probability your BP is likewise larger. yet there is not any thank you to diploma it with a stethoscope.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    9 years ago

    It happens that the human ear is MUCH less likely to err than even the most sophisticated electronic equipment. If I'm seriously ill, I want a human to check my BP, using their ears; they can use electronics for monitoring but not for precision.

  • 9 years ago

    Electronic (sound-recording) blood pressure gauges are not always reliable. For example, some people don't have a loss of sound in the artery at the diastolic reading, the sound just muffles and stays that way all the way down to zero. The only way to measure the BP is to listen with the ears and use the brain to interpret the sound.

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  • 9 years ago

    Depends on where they work and what they do. You also need stethoscopes to listen to the heart, lungs and stomach. If a nurses needs to do that, yes, they will still need a stethoscope. And at times, you need to take a manual BP as well.

    Source(s): PA
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