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Okay, I have two medical questions.

First, you know that thing they put on your arm and then pump up until it cuts off your circulation and then listen as they slowly (too slowly ) release the pressure. What's it called? A blood pressure monitor? Or does it have some fancy name?

Second: Clark brings a woman to the doctor. The woman is suffering from pnemonea. The doctor puts her on antibiotics. Clark asks if she will live and the doctor says they will have to wait until they know if she responds to the antibiotics. Clark asks how long. The doctor says about twelve hours.

So my second question is: does that seem believable?

Thanks,

ML

I think I know the answer to question 1. In my medical instrumentation class, we learned that it was called a Sphygmomanometer, but I think most people just call it a "blood pressure cuff".

- Laura

I'm not medically educated, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I know about bacterias and antibiotics, twelve hours seems a bit short to me. I would at least make it 24 hours. But that's just a feeling.

Ines

Also, pneumonia isn't always life threatening. I had it a couple of years ago and didn't even miss any work. The Doctor tells me I still have scar tissue on my lungs because of it, but I didn't miss any work.

Thanks, everyone. I'll adjust my story accordingly.

ML

Yes, it's a "blood pressure cuff".
A really bad case of pneumonia will be accompanied usually by a racking cough and a high fever. Unless the patient has a history of penicillin alergy, the quick treatment is a shot of penicillin in the doctor's office and then a prescription for oral antibiotic, such as ampicilin. Also asprin or tylenol is prescribed for the fever. The fever should drop within 24 hours.
Now this may be a little out of date since it is based on my taking the kids into the doctor.

Artemis

Yeah, what everyone else said about the "blood pressure cuff" - it is technically a sphygmomanometer, but heck if I ever call it that!

As for the pneumonia, it'll depend on what kind of pneumonia it is - they'd need to get a chest X-ray to see if it's a lobar pneumonia (normal pneumonia) or an atypical pneumonia ("walking pneumonia"). They look different on X-rays and they take different antibiotics to treat them. Once on antibiotics, you should expect to see a drop in temperature and/or the patient starting to feel a little bit better, plus better breath sounds in the affected areas of the lungs - within 24 - 48 hours. If not within 48 hours, then we'd probably consider switching antibiotics or adding another antibiotic.

Most commonly now with a lobar pneumonia we do a shot of Rocephin, then oral antibiotics. If it's bad enough we'll just jump straight to hospitalization and treat with IV antibiotics.

Hope some of that's helpful,
Jill

Jill, you don't call it a sphygmomanometer? We people who design medical instruments are horrified that doctors don't use the names we make up so that we sound smart .

- Laura

Considering the names of all the diseases and medicines, it's no wonder that no one in the medical field says sphygmomanometer! Heck, it was a good thing questions on the EMT exam were multiple choice and not write-in, because I'd never be able to spell it, let alone say it!