Is the Welch Allyn Vital Signs Monitor 52000 accurate for blood pressure measurement compared to a mercury sphygmomanometer?
The Welch Allyn Vital Signs Monitor 52000 is suitable for general monitoring but lacks the accuracy required for exact blood pressure determination.
The accuracy of the Welch Allyn Vital Signs Monitor, a compact device for the oscillometric measurement of blood pressure, was determined according to the British Hypertension Society protocol. The monitor achieved a grade C for diastolic and a grade D for systolic blood pressure. The device is suitable for monitoring a patient, for example post-operatively, in the emergency department or during an intervention. The device cannot, however, be recommended for an exact determination of blood pressure when compared with the mercury sphygmomanometer. In an earlier validation report, the Welch Allyn Vital Signs Monitor achieved a grade A for both diastolic and systolic blood pressure. After adjusting for the difference in method of calculating the grades used in the two studies, there remained a considerable difference in grading results, for which no clear reason could be found.
Braam et al. (Sat,) studied this question.