Posts Tagged "Personal"

Advantages Of Personal Electronic Blood Pressure Machines – Track Your Health In The Comfort Of Your Home And More Benefits

Medical experts are known to refer to high blood pressure or hypertension as the silent killer often times more fatal than diabetes, which is also a secondary condition for many patients suffering from high BP.

However, thanks to the advancements in science and technology, the latest home use equipment includes personal use blood pressure machines that don’t cost an arm and a leg to buy and allow you to get up-to-the-minute BP readings, accurately and easily.

Moreover, it so happens that many a time victims of high blood pressure problems do not exhibit any outward symptoms that would alert family, friends, coworkers or others around them regarding this life-threatening condition, which can also lead to a stroke or heart attack, if left unchecked.

This is where fatalities concerning a significant number of patients worldwide (50 million BP patients in the U.S. alone with nearly a third of this number unaware of even suffering from it) can be limited – by a simple act of buying one of best quality personal blood pressure monitors available across various budgets, at drugstores and in web stores.

Having anytime access to a reliable health monitoring system such as the electronic BP machine or a manually operated (mercury based, integrated with stethoscope use to arrive at accurate readings) BP checking device if one is medically trained to operate it, is a distinct advantage for those diagnosed with lifestyle diseases like hypertension.

The new-age compact, digital variety of blood pressure machines allow you to track your BP in the comfort of your home, saving you time, energy and money spent to have this checked up at a medical facility with no hassles of making appointments or dealing with adverse weather and traffic conditions.

Some of the more feature-rich home use BP measuring devices also capture accurate readings for pulse and maintain a record of past BP readings (from last 5 readings to 20 or more) to give users a range of results across a week or more. This ensures any lifestyle improvements, including dietary restrictions and medication changes to be incorporated at the earliest, based on the reports digitally displayed on the unit’s screen.

Those machines that are developed in consultation with medical advisors prove to be the best home medical support equipment as they enable users to access vital BP related info, past readings and record new ones for tracking changes and reviewing these easily when visiting the doctor next to determine future treatment options more accurately.

Another great advantage of quality BP monitoring systems is that since the personal use blood pressure monitors are mostly designed for simple push-button operation, seniors as well as those with limited use of their physical faculties can easily use them for close monitoring of BP readings for themselves or another person.

For example, the latest BP monitoring gadgets come with a self-inflating cuff that reduced the pumping required in basic models, which being a muscular activity can negatively impact the blood pressure readings and thus, is ideal for patients suffering from arthritis.

Finally, the latest LCD technology aided advanced BP devices afford an effective solution for multiple health conditions to be monitored efficiently, such as high blood pressure and diabetes along with asthma. Some allow for printing of the data, while others allow transferring of biometric readings via a virtual delivery system for healthcare providers across the same city or different continents with equal ease and accuracy.

Want to Live a much Longer Life?

A Corporate Policy for Personal Electronic Devices

A couple of years ago I created somewhat of a ruckus when I wrote an article on “Music in the Workplace.” In it, I suggested there should be restrictions on using personal audio devices in the workplace. This created a bit of a stir particularly with I.T. personnel who staunchly defended the use of their iPods and MP3 players while programming. In the course of the ensuing dialog, I asked what companies, if any, had developed a formal corporate policy regarding the use of such devices. Remarkably, nobody seemed to have one, or if they did, they didn’t want to come forward with it. However, recently I received one from an HR Administrator, perhaps the first of its kind. As this is considered somewhat of a trailblazing effort, the company asked to remain anonymous. All I can tell you is that they represent the North American unit of a global manufacturing company. Nonetheless, here is what they came up with:

“It is critical that employees working in the manufacturing areas remain focused on the tasks at hand and do not have any unnecessary distractions. It is for this reason that our policy on portable personal electronic devices such as cell phones, blackberries, computers, I-pods, CD players, MP3 players, radios, video games and pagers are prohibited in the manufacturing areas.

Company issued cell phones, computers, blackberries and pagers are acceptable as long as they do not create a hazard for the environment.

In non-production areas such as an office, the use of personal portable electronic devices are at the discretion of the manager.

Disciplinary Action

Disciplinary action may be taken against any employee who does not adhere to this policy.”

Frankly, I thought this was well written and quite practical; on the one hand, the company highlights the safety issues involved, and on the other they recognize it might be acceptable in other areas of the business where safety is not an issue. As for me, I might have taken it a step further and added some verbiage whereby such devices should be prohibited from customer service situations where it is necessary to pay attention to the customer. It might also make sense to ban such devices from meeting and training situations. Come to think of it, situations where these devices can be used in the workplace without having an adverse effect on business is becoming rare.

A recent BusinessWeek article (6/23/2008) reported that the amount of time the average U.S. worker loses to interruptions is 28%. This figure pretty much jives with the 70% effectiveness rate figure we have reported over the years (whereby in the average eight hour work day in an office setting, 5.6 hours are spent on direct work, and 2.4 hours are spent on interferences). Frankly, interferences are a natural part of office life (nobody can be 100% effective). But now with these personal electronic devices in play while employees are working, one has to wonder what effect it is having on worker concentration. Some people, particularly programmers (who tend to be somewhat introverted), thrive on such devices. However, these devices can be very distracting to other job functions requiring more extroverted personalities, such as Sales and Customer Service.

So, is a corporate policy on personal electronic devices really necessary? Frankly, I think it would be very irresponsible on management’s part not to have such a policy. It must be remembered that the distraction resulting from these devices can impact three areas:

1. Worker safety.
2. Product/service defects and errors (workmanship).
3. Worker productivity.

If it’s between entertaining the workers and putting the company at risk, I think it’s a no-brainer; the employees can wait until break time to enjoy such devices.

I would like to thank the individual for sharing the above policy with us. It may not be perfect but it’s a good first start.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more depth, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail at timb001@phmainstreet.com

Want to Live a much Longer Life?