OS035. Blood pressure measurement by health professionals, comparison with American Heart Association Technique

• Published in: Pregnancy hypertension 2012-07, Vol.2 (3), p.194-195
• Main Authors: Sahbaeiroy, F, Pourzadi, M, Hasani, M. Mohammad, Khatibi, N, Esmailpour, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cardiovascular; Obstetrics and Gynecology
• ISSN: 2210-7789; 2210-7797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.preghy.2012.04.036

Introduction It seems measurement of the blood pressure is always easy, although it is important and should be done by applying standard method. Even a few mistake can make difference between being prescribed medication or having the blood pressure monitored. Objectives To compare the rate and accuracy of measuring blood pressure. Methods In this clinical trail study five hundred health professional consist of 179 nurses, 58 physicians, 99 medical and 118 nursing students and 46 association nurses were studied in 10 hospitals (3th of them were mother and child health centers) and health centers and five nursing and medical instructions when working with their students observed them. Two questioners were use for the data, demographic information and American Heart Association Standard questioner. Results The mean systolic-diastolic blood pressure for research samples in this study was 126 ± 20.82/78.55 ± 12.70 mmHg and for the researcher’s measurement was 120.15 ± 20.56/72.08 ± 12.24. The differences were-5.85 mmHg for systolic and −6.47 mmHg for diastolic BP. The most change of blood pressure before and after taking blood pressure were about pregnant women.Nurses and nursing students aided by 63% of the recommended procedures for taking blood pressure and other health professionals done by approximately 40%. Conclusion Results indicated that health professional failed comply with the BP measurement guidelines, this may lead to a wrong diagnose. The importance of performing certain variables should be taken into account when teaching and assessing students in the future. Because hypertension is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, the simple and accurate measurement of BP can be life saving.