Stuart phones the practice nurse

Scene 1
Practice nurse: Hello Stuart, how can I help you?
Stuart: I am looking for some advice. I normally check my blood pressure a few times a week. Over the last few weeks the readings from the machine have been rather erratic. One minute they are ridiculously high, then very low.

Scene 2
Practice nurse: How have you been feeling? Have you noticed any changes to your health?
Stuart: Not at all. I feel rather well. I am still enjoying gardening, in fact I have been doing rather a lot in the garden recently and have not had any problems.

Scene 3
Practice nurse: Stuart, have you tried checking your pulse manually?
Stuart: No, I haven’t but I used to do it as part of the cardiac rehab classes. I still remember what to do.

Scene 4
Practice nurse: Can I ask you to check your pulse for me just now?
Stuart checks his pulse …

Scene 5
Stuart: It’s about 70 beats per minute but feels rather irregular … it’s all over the place.
Practice nurse: That is what I suspected. Let’s make an appointment for you to come to the practice to see me so we can explore this further.

Scene 6
Practice nurse thinks: He may have an irregular pulse. Stuart thinks its irregular … 60-80 beats per minute. I’ll make the appointment for him to come into the surgery.