Blood Pressure

The lack of knowledge and confidence of obtaining a manual blood pressure is an ever growing issue in the healthcare field. This paper will outline the importance of taking a manual blood pressure accurately. Providing the proper blood pressure measurement can determine a patient’s care and outcome when in a healthcare facility. I will talk about the pros and cons of manual blood pressures and personal experience of this vital skill in the healthcare field. I will also provide some simple but effect ways to increase confidence and knowledge by just basic education. All of my information and numbers will be supported by using references and studies in the use of manual blood pressure monitoring.

(Marieb and Hoehn, 2010, p 703) defined Blood Pressure (BP) as ‘the force per unit area exerted on a vessel wall by the contained blood, and is expressed in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg)’. BP is still one of the essential and widely used assessment tools in healthcare settings. Nurses generally record the arterial BP which is the forced exerted blood that flows through the arteries, to establish a baseline and to determine any risk factors. BP

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

Systolic BP increases bit by bit while diastolic BP stays about the same. Diastolic BP may even diminishing because of vasodilation, or the slight widening of veins brought about by the heart pumping harder to spread more oxygen all through the body. Diastolic circulatory BP is the estimation of base pulse, when weight is weakest, and systolic shows weight at pinnacle times, when heartbeats constrain blood through the veins. Since systolic BP is straightforwardly associated with how the heart works, it is influenced the most by work out.

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:

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

Blood pressure in our blood vessels is monitored by the baroreceptors. These receptors send messages to the cardio regulatory center of the medulla oblongata to regulate our blood pressure every minute. In order for blood to be delivered to all organs and tissues, our cardiovascular system must always maintain adequate blood pressure. If the blood pressure drops too low, these organs will not receive an adequate of nourishing blood. Also if the pressure goes too high, the walls of the arteries will stretch and increased activity within the baroreceptor, information will then be sent through the nerves to the cardio regulatory center within the medulla which will responds by initiating the mechanisms that decrease the blood pressure to a normal

Blood pressure is a measure of the force of blood that is against the arterial walls.

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.

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).

The auscultatory method involves the use of a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope to listen to Korotkoff sounds and determine the systolic and diastolic arterial pressure (Kapse & Patil, 2013). The mercury and aneroid sphygmomanometers are two types of devices that use auscultatory methods to measure blood pressure (Buchanan, 2009).

a. Deflate the BP cuff at a rate of 5 to 10 mm Hg per second.

The two constituents of blood pressure are systolic pressure and diastolic pressure; the highest and lowest pressure readings during ventricular systole and diastole, respectively. Pulse pressure is the difference between these two readings and represents the blood being pushed into the aorta from the left ventricle. However, a blood pressure value can be given as an average pressure in the arteries which forces the flow of blood from the heart. This value is the mean arterial pressure (MAP). Cardiac output (CO) and Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR) are the physiological determinants of MAP. “CO is the volume of blood pumped by one ventricle in a given period of time” (Silverthorn, 2007). It is determined by the heart rate (HR), which is the number of beats per minute, and the stroke volume (SV), which is the volume of blood pumped by a ventricle during a contraction. Venous return is the volume of blood with returns to the heart via the vena cava. With reference to the Frank-Starling relationship, if CO increases, venous return should also increase, however changes in vasoconstriction can affect the venous return, thus effecting MAP. According to Poiseuille’s Law, the radius of the arterioles directly impacts the resistance of blood flow to peripheral circulation, which is termed TPR. Blood volume also impacts the MAP. A larger blood volume will exert more pressure on the arterioles and therefore increase blood pressure. Furthermore, the kidneys can filter the blood

Blood pressure is quite significant as higher the level of one’s blood pressure is, the higher is the risk of health problems in the future.

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.