Two months later
Zahara
I stepped into the waiting room with my folder and called the name of the next patient. "Lamont?"
I looked around to see a young man getting up out of his seat, I gave him a friendly smile as he approached me. He didn't look too happy but he still managed to smile anyway. I held the door open and told him to follow me, he did but very slowly. We stopped at the scale that normally causes an issue for some patients. Some dislike the scale and being weighed while others don't really care.
"I'm gonna get your weight first, I need you to take your shoes off and step on the scale"
He took his shoes off and stepped onto the scale, once I documented his weight I converted his weight from kilograms to pounds in case he wanted to know the exact number.
"Okay. You can step off, put your shoes back on and follow me into an exam room"
I waited patiently for him to finish and proceeded to lead him to the first available room. When we got to the door his whole demeanor changed. He seemed afraid, maybe even a bit nervous which concerned me. I know a lot of people get nervous when they come to the doctor. But I haven't seen many patients that go from being okay to scared just by approaching the exam room. I can understand why.. this is where the exams and procedures are performed. But still I don't like my patients being afraid, no one should fear being hurt, embarrassed or even judged when coming to the doctors.
"Um.. are you going to be the one treating me?"
"No, the leading physician will be treating you today. I'm just here to get you ready to see him"
"Will you be in the room.. during the exam?"
"Only if the doctor needs assistance, do you not feel comfortable with me being in here?"
"I don't know, I just feel you'll judge me"
"Not at all, I'm here to help you feel as comfortable as possible. I'm not here to judge you"
"Good to know.." He tried to smile but I could tell he was still extremely nervous.
I took the blood pressure cuff, wrapped it around his arm took my stethoscope from around my neck. I have seen much more than people think and I've heard some pretty interesting stories. Not once have I ever felt the need to judge any of the patients I have encountered. I checked for his pulse before placing the bell of my stethoscope over his brachial artery and began to inflate the cuff. Although the automatic blood pressure cuff is less work I prefer to do my vitals manually.
I was taught to listen for the first beat to get the systolic pressure which will be the top number. And then listen for the last beat to get the diastolic pressure which will give you the bottom number. Systolic is the hearts contraction phase and diastolic is the hearts resting phase. Which is why blood pressure measurements need to be pretty precise. With a high systolic pressure it means the heart is working too hard. And with high diastolic pressure means the heart isn't truly resting at all. While a low diastolic pressure the heart is resting too long. Vital signs are very interesting to me, I just love every aspect of my job.
I unwrapped the cuff and looked at him for a few seconds without him noticing. His blood pressure is really high...
"Is your blood pressure normally high?"
"Um.. not normally, what was it"
"One-fifty over ninety"
He shrugged and brushed it off, it could be because he's nervous about being here.
