Korotkoff Crap

I don't have much to say today. I spent most of the day at a focus group hosted by Towson University. They are hoping to revamp their exercise science curriculum and wanted the advice of professionals in the various fields that the exercise science majors go on into. Officially I was representing the company I work for. Unofficially, I was there to put in my two cents, based on my experiences working in the many "fitness/exercise" jobs I have held. I'm kind of a job whore I guess. In the few years since I earned my degree in exercise science, I've been a personal trainer for a private studio, personal trainer for a large chain, fitness instructor at a hospital fitness center, clinical exercise physiologist working primarily in all phases of cardiac rehab but also contributing to medical fitness, weight management, bariatric surgery candidates, senior center fitness center director, group exercise instructor to seniors, conductor of maximal and submaximal graded exercise tests for a local college, and finally assistant program director in corporate fitness center with high importance placed on group exercise instruction and internet surfing.

Yeah. I get around. Anyway, the reason that I went into all that is to back up my declaration that I have something to say. A lot of the discussion at this focus group was based around the internship that the students must do before earning their degree. I have been in their shoes and really hoped to use my (horrible) internship experience to help the interns that I work with throughout my career. Don't get me wrong- the discussion was very interesting. But there were a few people who I felt took over the entire discussion and made it their own.

I wanted very badly to say this the entire time, but couldn't justify it as more than mere bitching. So I decided to bring it here. I mentioned in an earlier post the games I like to play while at work. I have another. It's called "Let's see if this student/intern/fitness professional knows what he/she is listening to when taking a blood pressure." I used to work for Towson University by staffing a Baltimore County Senior Center fitness center. Every semester, students from the TU Exercise Science Practicum class would rotate through the different centers to get hands on experience. I asked each and every student while taking a blood pressure to describe to me what they were listening to. I don't think a single one could explain it. More often than not, they would guess they were listening to the heart beat. My response to that is, your heart is in your arm?

Why why why why why would they learn how to take blood pressure, and knowing that it's such an important measure for fitness professionals, not even bother to understand what they're listening to? What do those numbers mean? Yeah, we all know 115/75 is great, anything below that to a certain point is better, and the higher it gets, the more alarming. Some of these students didn't even know that the sounds they're listening to are called Korotkoff sounds. They are NOT the beating of the heart, but the sound of the blood bouncing off the walls of the vessels as the constriction caused by the inflated cuff is lifted.

You better believe that each student that passed through my center was able to explain this, as well as other basic occurrences common in the fitness industry.

So the best part of the focus group was that I kind of got called out for being there. My director knew about it, but one of the partners in my company heard I was there and asked about what hours I worked today. I'm not sure if she thought I was trying to get paid for going to this even though I was representing her company? Even though it was a work-related function I still made up the hours that I missed at the center so I'm not sure why it was a big deal.

Well, after a day of discussion and an evening of driving and pretending I know how to swim, I have a headache and I'm beat. I'm going to bed.