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Tips for Taking Blood Pressures Accurately by Becky Sisk, PhD, RN (c) 2002 |
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The JNC VI recommends the following procedure for taking a blood pressure:
1. Teach people to avoid smoking or using caffeine for 30 minutes prior to having their blood pressure taken.
2. Ask the person whose blood pressure you are taking to sit and rest for a few minutes first. This prevents "white coat hypertension," or anxiety from being in a health care setting and having a blood pressure taken.
3. The person should be either supine or sitting, relaxed, with arms at heart level.
4. Use an appropriate sized cuff and a mercury sphygmomanometer or calibrated aneroid manometer.
5. Take two or more readings 2 minutes apart and average them. Repeat on the other arm and use the higher reading.
Remember that the optimum blood pressure is <120/<80 mmHg. "Hypertension" is defined as a systolic pressure of 140 mmHg or higher and/or a diastolic pressure of 90 mmHg or higher [American Heart Association, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4623]
*************************** This article was taken from Volume 1, # 3 of the "Clinical Nursing Resources" newsletter. To subscribe:
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