The American Heart Association recommends blood pressure monitoring at home for all people who have high blood pressure. This is a moderately easy skill to learn. Practice will improve accuracy and confidence in your readings. Reliable blood pressure readings are valuable for athletic exercise programs and critical for good medical care. Initial steps are the same for manual and automated systems.
Manual and Automatic Systems
Step 1
Select either a manual or an automated blood pressure monitoring system.
Step 2
Seat your subject comfortably (or supine) with upper arms supported at heart level. Use the left arm unless pain or injury makes the right arm a better choice. Test both arms, if possible, for the first one to three blood pressure measurements, then consistently use the arm with the higher readings. Keep the subject at rest for five minutes before testing, unless monitoring exercise-induced blood pressure changes.
Step 3
Deflate the cuff before use by gently squeezing the air out.
Step 4
Position your subject's arm palm up. Wrap the blood pressure cuff around the upper arm 1 to 2 inches above the elbow. Wrap it snugly, just loose enough so that you can slip one finger under the cuff.
Step 5
Press the Start button on the automated system; check printed procedures for any variations. The machine then inflates the cuff, takes its readings, reports them and stops.
Continuing With Manual Systems
Step 1
Position the pressure gauge to be readable and secure.
Step 2
Place the stethoscope (clean the ear pieces with alcohol wipes before using) over the brachial artery where you feel the pulse in the crook of the elbow, below the edge of the blood pressure cuff.
Step 3
Inflate the cuff to 200 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) pressure, or at least 20 mmHg above any previous highest reading.
Step 4
Listen through the stethoscope and loosen the pressure relief valve on the bulb within no more than five to 10 seconds after inflation. Let the cuff deflate at 5 mmHg every two seconds.
Step 5
Listen for the first soft thud or bumping sound as the pressure falls; this is the higher (systolic) blood pressure reading, normally 120 mmHg.
Step 6
Listen as the cuff continues deflating until the pulse sounds disappear. This is the lower (diastolic) blood pressure reading, normally 80 mmHg.
Step 7
Record the pressures as the higher over the lower reading. For example, normal is recorded as 120/80.
Tips and Warnings
- Do not take your own blood pressure reading with a manual system. The continuous heartbeat in your ears makes the beginning and end of the blood pressure readings hard to distinguish. Check your system against a mercury-filled pressure gauge (the "gold standard") in your doctor's office or a hospital or clinic first, and yearly thereafter. Measure your subject's bicep to select the right-size cuff. Keep permanent, timed, dated records of all blood pressure readings. Also record which arm is used.
- Taking blood pressure readings is safe. Rarely (as in swelling or lymphatic surgery on the side where you take readings) will you have to check with the subject's doctor first. Report to a physician a systolic pressure that's 20 mmHg (or more) higher or a diastolic pressure of 10 mmHg (or more) higher in one arm compared to the other arm.
Things You'll Need
- Manual or automated/electronic blood pressure system
- Stethoscope
- Alcohol wipes
