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Clinicians must address BP measurement complexity in practice; leaves open best approaches for consistent accuracy in emergency settings.
Those unfamiliar with the health field and, unfortunately, many health professionals consider blood pressure (BP) measurement a triviality.It is understandable that those "delegated" health procedures and techniques, which contribute to saving patients' lives, lead to greater professional gratification than the measuring of BP.However, the results obtained trigger a multitude of acts and prescriptions that are not without consequence.Buus-Frank (2003) advises nursing personnel neither to underestimate themselves because they don't believe they perform vital health care functions, nor to limit themselves because they have too few letters after their names.BP monitoring is a complex, everyday technique that shouldn't be "swept under the rug" because it is considered a routine procedure (Costan, 2003).Imagine a situation in which your electronic sphygmomanometer displays a result of 180/124.Surprised by this result, you retake the BP, this time with a manual device, and obtain a very different result.Which device is the most reliable?The answer to this question involves many scientific, physiological and technical dimensions as described in the following pages.This article reviews the basic principles of an efficient BP measurement -a review that may surprise some readers. This article has been peer reviewedLe magazine des infirmières et infirmiers d'urgence du Québec
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Celine Plant (2005) studied this question.