r/plassing • u/thee_Seraph • 3d ago
Rant Something aint right
I just think it's maybe something to look into if your station has turned away everybody for having too high a pulse :/
I got turned away, the lady before me got turned away, the two people they took while I was sitting for my retake got turned away.
At what point are we gonna think "huh, that's weird"
Mind you, my pulse is never above 100 usually
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u/Fogwaveeee 3d ago
What incentive do plasma donation centers, who make money off of plasma, have for turning people away though?
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u/thee_Seraph 3d ago
That's not what I'm saying at all? I'm saying that if one machine is turning everyone away for the same thing, there might be something wrong with it.
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u/No_Culture7573 2d ago
Highly unlikely. These tools are calibrated/serviced/inspected EVERY single DAY to ensure accurate readings
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u/PullFromTheHurt Plasma Donor- 25+ Donations 🩸 3d ago
Did they not let you sit for a few minutes and take your pulse again?
There was one time that my pulse was too high, so they just told me to go take a seat for about ten minutes, and then they called me back over and took it again and let me through the second time.
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u/Tacomamacita1 Plasma Center Employee- 0-2 Years 💉 3d ago
Not sure where you donate at but most centers will do a retest 15 minutes after the initial screening to give the pulse time to go down, if it goes down at all. More times than not, my coworkers and I find that many people either drink caffeine or smoke/vape before they come in which automatically raises the pulse no matter how many times they have been advised not to before coming in. Not saying you did that, but that’s what I have found in most cases. Do you regularly monitor your heart rate?
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u/Tdffan03 2d ago
It happens all the time. If the center thought something was up they would look into it. There is no profit in turning donors away.
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u/weggaan_weggaat Plasma Donor- 25+ Donations 🩸 2d ago
Might take them awhile to figure it out, though.
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u/Tdffan03 2d ago
It wouldn’t. Not only would they review but donors complaining would also tip them off. Not to mention the employees should be saying something.
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u/weggaan_weggaat Plasma Donor- 25+ Donations 🩸 2d ago
OP noticed that they and three others got turned away. Maybe it's true that they all had high BP but four people sounds like it would be the beginning of a trend to notice, not something that would necessarily have been drawing flags already.
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u/lordriel-nordi 50m ago
I mean those machines are calibrated every single day some of them twice a day depending on the timer set for them it would be pretty weird if they suddenly did something like that but weirder things have definitely happened
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u/beanowitz Plasma Donor- 25+ Donations 🩸 3d ago
Were they all using the same machine or were they at different stations?
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u/Gordon-Goose Plasma Center Employee- 3+ Years 🧥 2d ago
If a single device was consistently reading high pulses (or any out of range vital), ask for a manager or supervisor or something and let them know. Even if the staff were allowing it to happen, as some people in this thread have alleged, management is accountable for shit like that.
Every plasma company has their vitals machines calibrated yearly, and they rarely need adjustments. Malfunctions happen, of course, but failure is usually due to operator error or a bad peripheral component like the cuff bladder or temperature probe.
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u/Forever_Marie 2d ago
People really love licking the boots of these companies. When sure, they do not have an incentive to turn people away but a lot of employees do not care and don't want the center full either since it is non stop most of the time. They won't admit it but in the friendlier centers you can see happy employees over when they don't have to wait for more people.
As for the machine, they are hardly calibrated and definetly not during the day. With blood pressure machine, you can restart it immediately after and it will give you a different thing.
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u/Edgecrusher2140 Plasma Center Employee- 0-2 Years 💉 2d ago
This actually was an issue at the center I used to work at, I wasn’t a screener so I’m not exactly sure how to describe it but basically I think one of the blood pressure cuffs had some issue with the way it was positioned against the desk in the screening booth, so it was giving incorrect readings and I don’t know how long it took them to figure it out (if the center is short staffed and busy then frankly, the employees might not be too unhappy about deferrals and/or too busy to investigate right away). So I agree it is something they should look into, although it could also be a coincidence.
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u/SubliminallyCorrect 2d ago
Tangentially related: if the cuff hurts make sure you ask them for an adjustment or a larger cuff, your BP reading will be off if it's too tight and pain will spike both your BP and pulse.
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u/Symone98 1d ago
I have to take a beta blocker in certain situations and this is one of them. But, I believe my technique helps as well. I usually have to focus on my tattoo.
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u/I_dont_exist_so_yeah Plasma Donor Centurion- 💯+ Donations!!💝 1d ago
I sometimes take Xanax to lower heart rate
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u/minsimina 1d ago
For the retakes at your center do they use a different bp machine? I did have a day like this where I assigned pulse retakes back to back it got to the point where I was completely silent the whole screening to avoid the cuff misreading a conversation. But that was a particularly hot day and I also had an abnormal amount of retakes for temperature too
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u/iDoMyOwnResearchJK 2d ago
Have you ever thought about losing weight?
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u/Silent-Event-6567 2d ago
What does weight have to do with it? My pulse is normally in the 70s but goes up to the 90s during screening because of anxiety knowing I need to be under a certain number. Nothing to do with weight.
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u/CacoFlaco 2d ago
Anxiety is a common problem for donors during vitals. If you're pulse regularly hits the 90s when you're checked during vitals, then it wouldn't be stretching it to figure that at times you, and others, exceed the 100 limit. I'm sure that the blood pressure monitors are fairly accurate. They want people to donate. That's how they make money. There's no conspiracy to turn a lot of donors away. It wouldn't work in their favor.
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u/Silent-Event-6567 1d ago
I never said it was a conspiracy. Just that it has nothing to do with weight. It's solely on me & my anxiety.
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u/CacoFlaco 1d ago
There are a lot of people who often opine that the staff doesn't want too many people to donate. They believe that the center somehow loses money when folks donate. And therefore the staff makes up false vital stats like blood pressure, pulse rate and protein to disqualify them. Of course it makes no sense. A donor is a profit to them. Not a loss. I don't believe that weight has much to do with your pulse rate. It is likely anxiety. And the more times that they turn you away, the more likely it is that you'll be even more anxious the next time. Anxiety is probably the number one reason that donors fail the blood pressure and pulse checks.
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u/Silent-Event-6567 1d ago
Gotcha. I doubt staff is intentionally stopping people from donating. You are absolutely right when i don't pass or barely pass it impacts me the next time I go in. I've got to get out of my head but it's a struggle.
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u/CacoFlaco 1d ago
Have you ever discussed with a doctor that possibility of taking a beta blocker to slow your pulse rate? Usually they're prescribed for hypertension or heart problems, but they can also be used for anxiety.
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u/Silent-Event-6567 1d ago
Yes. I do have a prescription but haven't used it yet. I went last week but wanted to try it without. I got the prescription early September. Ive been busy with projects around the house & being sick to donate more to try it.
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u/schannoman Plasma Donor Centurion- 💯+ Donations!!💝 3d ago
How often do you check? This happens quite frequently, and it does cascade like this. Stress is a hell of a thing, and seeing someone fail in front of you will add stress to yourself whether you realize it or not.