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Always a pleasure to stop by! You are doing great work on Examined, which has become the best source of general medical information available for patients.
I remember that OR trick from med student days.
In my updated home BP summary (theskepticalcardiologis…) I included a comment from a patient which I think likely reflects the practice i…
Always a pleasure to stop by! You are doing great work on Examined, which has become the best source of general medical information available for patients.
I remember that OR trick from med student days.
In my updated home BP summary (https://theskepticalcardiologist.com/2019/07/13/why-i-encourage-self-monitoring-of-blood-pressure-in-my-patients-with-high-blood-pressure/) I included a comment from a patient which I think likely reflects the practice in most offices and an attitude most patients should consider adopting.
"I had a high blood pressure event several years ago. Since then I have monitored my BP at home, sitting with both feet flat on the floor, not eating or drinking, not speaking or moving around, on a chair with a back, and without clothes on the arm being used for the measure. My BP remains normal.
I have never had my BP taken correctly in a doctor’s office. They will do it while I am speaking with the doctor, sitting on an exam table with my legs swinging, with the monitor band over my heavy winter sweater, right after I have sat down. They do not ensure that my arm is supported or at the right height. If I recommend that I take off my sweater, or move to a chair with a back, they tell me that is not needed. I have decided to refuse such measurements. How can they possibly be monitoring my health this way?"
I'm going to restack this quote. Although we don't want people to lose trust or confidence in our office measurements, we also don't want to be dogmatic like we are the only source of reliable data. To the contrary!
And many thanks for the highly generous compliment! As my slogan goes: "If I only had more time..." I could live up to "the best source of general medical information available for patients." But in terms of some of the other sites "ahead of us" on Substack, I think you and I are doing alright by readers!
Always feel free to correct or disagree with me by the way, especially in your field of expertise or when I get off the evidence-based track.
No worries. I always speak my mind but for worthwhile sources like yours I try to respect the author's platform and minimize my own pontification.
I really like the comments feature on Substack both from my readers and ones that I am able to leave on other authors.
The comments do go live immediately and only recently have I felt the need to silence/delete a commenter