The arteries in the body are designed to withstand high pressure as a result of the force of the pumping of the heart. If blood pressure gets too high, however, the walls of the arteries can become damaged, which can lead to atherosclerosis. In addition, high blood pressure can tax the heart, making it weaker over time. Although a number of machines can read blood pressure, they can be prone to error. Consequently, it is often better to manually measure a patient's blood pressure.
Step 1
Wrap the blood pressure cuff around the patient's upper arm. The cuff should be snug but not so tight that it cuts off blood flow. The bottom edge of the blood pressure cuff should be an inch above the elbow.
Step 2
Place the bell of the stethoscope against the inside of the elbow, just underneath the blood pressure cuff. This will allow the stethoscope to pick up sounds from the brachial artery.
Step 3
Raise the patient's arm so it is level with the chest. This is necessary to get an accurate blood pressure measurement, since having the arm too low or too high can affect blood pressure. Make sure the arm is supported and relaxed; if the arm is tense, blood pressure may be raised.
Step 4
Close the blood pressure cuff's valve, and inflate the cuff using the hand bulb. Keep pumping until the cuff's pressure gauge is at 160 mm of mercury.
Step 5
Slowly open the cuff's valve so that air slowly but steadily flows out of the cuff. While the air flows out, watch the reading on the pressure gauge, and listen for the sounds of the pulse using the stethoscope. The pressure at which you can first hear the pulse is the systolic pressure; the pressure on the gauge when the pulse sounds become inaudible is the diastolic pressure.
Things You'll Need
- Stethoscope
- Blood pressure cuff
