I've just had a letter from my local surgery saying following my suggestion they will now take the pulse of people who attend for annual exams (blood pressure, diabetes etc) to see if they are asymptomatic AF sufferers. A positive result to then be referred for ECG etc.
A small victory.
Well done. We have said for years this could be added to flu jab as well.
Well done! I'm asymptomatic and my AF was discovered through me asking for my BP to be checked the old-fashioned way rather than with the usual automatic machine. Let's hope a few more GP's adopt a similar approach.
Our surgery takes a pulse reading during wellness checks, decided hubby had an irregular beat, sent him for an ECG and he never heard any more! Took mine, said it was regularly irregular, no other checks done and I have Afib. I'm afraid I no longer hold our medics in much regard.
You don't surprise me. It's taken a while for them to take this onboard.
Hi
But best is by the stethoscope or physically not be BP machine.
AF is an irregular heart beat.
BP machines do not register pulse then accurately or sometimes gives an ERR message.
cherio JOY. 75. (NZ)
At the clinic prior we all were weighed, temp and BP taken. My current one does not.
Some BP machines do accurately flag up AF but not the ones my surgery uses! My original suggestion was that a stethoscope was used as that was how mine was detected, but they said that practice nurses are not trained to listen to the heart so said a pulse check would do. I'm not 100% convinced but any initiative to try and detect it is welcome.
That is truly wonderful news 👍 thank you for sharing this positive breakthrough!
Well done!
Let’s hope they actually check the pulse manually and not rely on gadgets - unless it’s an ECG.
I’ve had mine recorded as regular even though I’m in permanent AFib.
I've had my pulse snd/or ekg taken during my annual physical exam for as long as I can remember. They not only note the HR, but whether the pulse is regular or irregular. I'm from the US.
Are you sure this isn't fairly standard practice in the UK as well? They may not call it an atrial fibrillation check, but if they're checking your pulse with their finger or a stethoscope, they should be noting any irregularities and referring those for a follow up EKG.
Jim
Hi, no it's not standard practice here, they check your pulse rate to see if you're ok, not too slow or fast, but that's it.
It used to be that every time you were seen by a doctor or trained registered nurse there would be a pulse check. Nowadays it doesn't happen. So much information available from a manual pulse check not just rate but rhythm, volume etc.
I find it hard to believe that during an exam no one takes a pulse or listens to the heart!! I guess listening to the lungs would be way too much to ask! I believe both could be done in less than a minute!
JimF
My surgery gets heart rate from the BP machine, and says that the nurses aren't qualified to listen to the heart. At this point I just said to them that how they do it is up to them, but please just do it!
I find it staggering that nurses do not use basic methods to listen to the heart and therefore are not qualified. All that training and no basics. It's a disgrace.
Detecting undiagnosed AF
Should one asymptomatic and isolated AF episode be medicated?
Asymptomatic but persistent/permanent AF now seems to have symptoms 
For my British friends (nothing to do with AF)
