I need to simulate taking a blood pressure - obtaining correct results

May 15, 2020

Does anyone already have something made that I could use?

At least hear the inflation of the cuff then see and hear the sounds as let air out to determine correct measurement?

Thanks

 

24 Replies
Ned Whiteley

Hi Marinetta,

This looked like an interesting challenge so I have put together the attached example in the hope that it can assist you in some way.

The sound of the monitor pump was obtained from Zapsplat who provide free sound clips, but do require you to acknowledge their product in your final project. They also have sound effects for cuff fitting/removal.

The font I used for the screen was Open 24 Display ST by Southype and was obtained from Dafont.com for free.

In the example I have used an off-slide animation of a small blue rectangle to act as a counter and have added 16 to the Systolic variable with each cycle of the animation until the pump's audio completes (this increases it from zero to 176) and then subtracted 9 with each cycle to drop it back to 88, at which point final values for systolic, diastolic and pulse are randomly generated within appropriate ranges and then displayed along with appropriately coloured led indicators. I have only set normal and high ranges, but it would be easy to add low range readings if required.

Once in preview, you can start the monitor as often as you want and also interrupt it by pressing the Start/Stop button if you want to reset mid reading.

I hope this gives you something to work with,  but if you can't follow something I have done or have any further queries, just get back to me here.

Phil Mayor

It will be more difficult to do the manual but I think Ned's principles remain the same.

I would use a dial to release the air from the cuff and a button to add air to the cuff. I would use the random numbers as Ned has done and play don't play the audio sound based off of the values and then get the user to type in the values they got check against the random numbers perhaps use a small range.

You can use states to simulate the effect of the mercury or needle rising and falling based off of the variable going up and down by either using a perpetual motion path or layer. What you cannot simulate (or it will be very difficult) is the visual bumping of the mercury or needle. If Ned cannot get you something I will have a look at it.

 

marinetta demoss

Great ideas.
Thanks

Marinetta DeMoss MSN, RN-BC
Nursing Professional Development Specialist
Center for Clinical and Patient Learning
Dallas, TX
Bryan Tower – 6th Floor
Office: 214-820-9433
Fax: 214-820-4170

[Baylor Scott & White Health]

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marinetta demoss

Thanks

Marinetta DeMoss MSN, RN-BC
Nursing Professional Development Specialist
Center for Clinical and Patient Learning
Dallas, TX
Bryan Tower – 6th Floor
Office: 214-820-9433
Fax: 214-820-4170

[Baylor Scott & White Health]

**********************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and protected from disclosure, and no waiver of any attorney-client, work product, or other privilege is intended. If you are the intended recipient, further disclosures are prohibited without proper authorization. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden and possibly a violation of federal or state law and regulations. The sender and Baylor Scott & White Health, and its affiliated entities, hereby expressly reserve all privileges and confidentiality that might otherwise be waived as a result of an erroneous or misdirected e-mail transmission. No employee or agent is authorized to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of Baylor Scott & White Health, or any affiliated entity, by e-mail without express written confirmation by the CEO, the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Services or other duly authorized representative of Baylor Scott & White Health.

Ned Whiteley

Hi Marinetta,

I thought you were probably after a manual one, but I didn't have any suitable sound files at the time and so opted for the automatic version. Not a problem, here is my latest version with a manual BP monitor.

The sound file I have included is from EnvatoElements and as it is only the preview version, it comes with a voiceover with the words Audio Jungle. If you want the original clean version, you will need to set up an account with them and pay for it.

The graphic images are all from Content Library 360 and, with the gauge, I simply used Photoshop to extract the needle, added it back on top of the original image minus the needle and then converted the needle image to a dial it order to produce the turning effect.

I hope the attachment will give you something to get started with. I have done my best to create the bouncing needle effect between systolic and diastolic readings and, to make it more realistic, you could also overlay a second audio file at this point with the appropriate Korotkoff sounds.

When you preview the file, it will ask you to click on the cuff in order to check the patient's blood pressure. This will then jump to a lightbox slide where you can start the BP monitor. The results will appear on the lightbox slide and will also be visible on the main slide when the lightbox slide is closed.

Other things you could do to add to the slide:

1.  Include a suitable image of a cuff that matched up with the patient's arm and then have the user drag it over and place it on the arm in the correct spot. This would then play audio of the cuff being fitted and automatically show the lightbox slide.

2.  When the lightbox slide is closed, the user could then drag the cuff off the patient, which would play an additional audio file of the cuff being removed (the noise of tearing velcro).

Hope this helps, but if you have any further queries or are uncertain of what I have done on the slides, just get back to me here.

Ned Whiteley

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. I agree that a bit of refinement is necessary for the needle bounce and adding 0.25 instead of 1 definitely looks better, but overall I was pretty happy with the outcome and enjoyed the challenge.

Where would we be without the bouncing rectangles ?  Perhaps it would be nice if Articulate introduced a set of timers that you could call up and program in much the same way as setting up a dial. For example:

Trigger:               When timeline starts this slide
Variable:             Timer1
Start Value:        0
End Value:          60 (timer resets and starts again at 1)
Initial Value:       0
Step Value:         1 second

If you then add another couple of timers, you have yourself a 24 hour clock and, if they also introduced a "When timeline starts this Project" trigger option, you then have a timer that could be accessed at any stage throughout the project. It would then be possible, for example, to find out:

How long did the user spend answering Question 4?
How long did the user take to complete the whole assessment?

It would also be possible for something to happen on one slide based on how long it had been since the user clicked a button or completed a task on another slide. The possibilities are endless . . . . . . . well, almost.  In the meantime, we can all stick to the bouncing rectangles !!

Dave Hoffman

This is a great example of something very similar I am working on.  I am developing a Blood Pressure skills check with a sphygmomanometer as well. In my example, I have imported an animation to display the meter and play the audio.  However, the problem I have is having the user enter two answers in a single test question. The  user must enter both the correct Systolic and also the Diastolic pressures.  To quickly get around this, I created the activity on a single slide. 

if the user answered correctly, can I add points to actual test question scores?

Thanks,

 

Diane Peters

I am working with Ned's file to turn it into a quiz where the learner enters the correct blood pressure. I need several slides with different BPs, which I'll adjust with the variables. However, before I even get to setting up the quiz question, duplicating the slide with the sphygmomanometer on it causes the motion path not to work. Everything plays fine on the original and the duplicate plays the audio, but the dial does not move. Can anybody figure out why not?

Diane Peters

Thanks Sarah,
I get it now, but I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out why it didn’t duplicate the variable as well as everything else on the slide.
I think that, had I known what the expected behavior was, it would’ve saved me a lot of grief. Now that I know about the new variables I’ve actually been able to use them to my advantage!

I think that while it’s expected behavior for a developer, that information should be conveyed to the user.

Have a great weekend, yourself, and a happy Thanksgiving!

=Diane

Sarah Hodge

Thanks so much for sharing this helpful feedback, Diane! We definitely want to make creating courses easier for our customers, not harder. I'm sorry for the time lost. I'll let my team know, but I'm SO glad to hear that you've been able to use the new variables to your advantage! Best of everything with your project!