How BP is Measured
Blood pressure (BP) is measured using an instrument called a sphygmo- manometer. This has an inflatable cuff which goes around your upper arm, a small pump to push air into the cuff and a column of mercury (or a dial) to record the pressure within the cuff.
As the cuff is inflated with air, the person measuring your BP usually feels for a pulse (brachial artery) in the crook of your elbow. While the pressure within your artery stays higher than that in the cuff, blood can be felt pulsing through. Once the pressure in the cuff becomes greater than that in your artery, the vessel is squashed flat and blood stops flowing through it at that point. By inflating the cuff to an initial pressure that is higher than the expected systolic pressure, then lis-
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The pressure registering in the cuff at this point is taken as your systolic BP. The cuff is then slowly deflated further while listening over your artery. The tapping sounds become louder, then change to a dull whooshing noise before disappearing. The point at which blood can no longer be heard whooshing through the vessel is taken as your diastolic BP. The pulsing noise heard in the artery between these two pressures is a result of turbulence as the cuff impinges on the vessel and deforms its walls. We therefore know that the blood pressure in the artery is the same as that in the cuff at the point where the sounds disappear, as turbulence is no longer occurring. BP can also be measured with modern digital cuffs that fit around the wrist. BP is measured according to the length of a column of mercury it can support. It is therefore expressed in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). BP is written down as the higher pressure (systole) over the lower figure
The purpose of arterial pressure and the pulse lab is to determine the effect of posture and exercise on systolic and diastolic pressure and the heart rate. And also in order to find the differences in the reading taken under these condition compares to the baseline reading. The Sphygmomanometer and stethoscope are used to measure the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, counting the beat on the radial artery will give the reading for pulse rate and by using the lab scribe software and IWX214, the blood pressure will be measured. In the heart, the aorta and the carotid arteries have baroreceptors and the chemoreceptors that identify the changes in arterial pressure and the changes in
As the blood is forced throughout our body, there is a pressure that is exerted on the walls of our arteries, this is known as blood pressure. We see blood pressure represented as two numbers, the systolic (top) and the diastolic (bottom) numbers. The systolic blood pressure is the heart contracting and the diastolic is the heart relaxing. A normal, healthy, blood pressure would be written as 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or verbally expressed by most individuals as 120 over 80. Our blood pressure can vary depending on many things. When the diastolic or systolic pressure is high, or significantly and consistently above 120/80 mmHg, this is what we call hypertension. There are different stages or degrees of hypertension. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins (2010) describes the stages as the following:
The sound towards the end when the cuff pressure is decreased, just before the flow becomes laminar, is also faint. Poor hearing could result in the observer not being able to hear these faint sounds, therefore it can give inaccurate measure of the systolic and diastolic pressure. Also, due to a noisy environment the time points at which the Korotkoff sounds first appear and disappear could be falsely measured, thus giving an inaccurate blood pressure measurement. Also due to improper technique, if the cuff wrapped around the upper arm is too loose or large on the individual it can lead to variation.
Your heart beat can affect the blood pressure if the ventricle is contracting it is high if it is dilating it is low. Blood pressure is measured I two measurements. • Systolic pressure is when the pressure is at its highest, the pressure of the heart between heart contractions. • Diastolic pressure is when the pressure is at its lowest, when your heart is resting before it pumps again.
a. Deflate the BP cuff at a rate of 5 to 10 mm Hg per second.
Blood pressure is a force applied by blood that push against the arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that send oxygenated blood to the heart and throughout the rest of the body. To calculate blood pressure, use a blood pressure machine which shows the two types of pressures, systolic and diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure happens when the heart is decreasing and diastolic pressure is the pressure the occurs when the heart expands. Systolic pressure is always over diastolic pressure and the average is 120/80 mmHg. (S. Jose, E-12) Blood pressure is measured in mmHg which stands for millimeter of mercury.
The vascular system has a network of arteries, veins and capillaries, and these have a structure adjusted to their function. Atherosclerosis is a state in which an artery wall thickens by formation of fatty materials such as cholesterol. Blood pressure is calculated using a sphygmomanometer. The most used units of pressure are mmHg (millimeters of mercury). A healthy adult blood pressure is around 140 over 80. It contains of two numbers where one is the systolic pressure which is the maximum pressure when the heart contracts. The other one is the diastolic pressure which is the minimum pressure when the heart relaxes and fills with
Blood pressure (BP) as defined by Marieb and Hoehan (as cited in Peate & Wild, 2012) is the pressure that the blood puts on the blood vessel walls as the blood travels around the body controlled by the heart. The strength of the blood pushing on the blood vessel wall is the BP reading. According
The Korotkoff sound is constantly monitored as the cuff continues to be deflated slowly until the pulse sounds have disappeared. Then the fifth Korotkoff sound was recorded as the diastolic BP after another 10 to 20 mmHg the cuff may be completely deflated to avoid limb compression. After the procedure is complete the patient should be informed and left comfortable; the results must be explained and documented.
The mercury sphygmomanometer has been “gold-standard” for measuring blood pressure since it’s invention in 1881 (Ostchega et al, 2011). However, mercury is now considered to be an environmental risk and many hospitals and clinical practices worldwide have banned the use of mercury (Myers, 2010). There are now many mercury free alternatives to the sphygmomanometer such as the aneroid sphygmomanometer, digital monitors like the x or ambulatory blood
With the information found with what a patient’s blood pressure is, it helps health care providers understand the state of the patient’s health. A patient’s blood pressure measures the amount of pressure exerted on arterial walls in the patient’s heart. Blood pressure is measured in two numbers: systolic and diastolic. Systolic, the number listed first in blood pressure readings, reports the amount of force exerted by the blood into the arteries during ventricular contraction.
When the cuff is fully inflated to a certain maximum pressure, depending on the patient, typically 180 mmHg, no blood flow occurs through the artery. As it is slowly deflated a series of bounding motions can be heard. The first of these numbers will be recorded as the systolic pressure, while the last of these numbers will be recorded as the diastolic pressure. A BP reading, given in mmHg, has two numbers. The upper number, the systolic pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats. The lower number, the diastolic pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries between beats. Some people experience, what is referred to as, “white coat hypertension.” This is a type of hypertension wherein the patient believes the office to be a stressful environment and, as a result, their BP is artificially higher. There are certain prerequisites before getting BP taken: you can neither drink coffee nor smoke cigarettes for half an hour prior, you must use the restroom as bladder volume may influence BP reading, and you must sit for five minutes beforehand. To accurately diagnose someone, the doctor must take separate reading, on different days, at different times. The ABCDE mnemonic can be used to help determine the presence of hypertension: Accuracy of diagnosis, obstructive sleep apnea, aldosteronism, presence of renal artery; Bruits,
you use a cuff, pump, also a stethoscope .You inflate the cuff until you can’t no more than you start to let some of the air out until you start hearing a heartbeat and that is the systolic then you let it out until you stop hearing a beat that is the diastolic.My blood pressure was 130/70, according to the range for someone my age and gender, I have pre-high blood pressure . So the range for my blood pressure I have is greater than 120/80 but less than 140/90, but since I rushed down to the classroom it could be high because i was rushing and my heart was pumping my blood faster, the healthy range for blood pressure is greater than 90/60 but less than 120/80.
It is the measurement of the force of the blood pushing against the artery walls. A blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope is what are used to measure this. While taking you blood pressure two numbers are recorded; Systolic pressure and Diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the higher number that refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart contracts and pumps blood through the body. Diastolic pressure is the lower number and refers to the pressure inside the artery when the heart is at rest and is filling with blood. Having high blood pressure can increase the risk of coronary heart disease (i.e. heart attack, stroke).