How to take blood pressure w/ Aneroid Monitor

[tavia_yeung]

can someone please explain to me what that mean....the one that underline in green (below) cos i'm so confuse about what it said. i just wanna learn how to do it correctly cos i might have that on my skill test.

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how to read an aneroid blood pressure monitor

step-by-step instructions:

1) wrap the cuff around your upper arm above the elbow. be sure you have the right size cuff. if it's too small or too big, it can affect the accuracy of the reading. the cuff fits properly if you have used 80 percent of the cuff fabric.

2) find the brachial artery in the crook of your arm.the brachial artery is usually in line with your pinkie.

3) sit with your feet on the floor and your arm in a supported position. place the stethoscope over the brachial artery.

4) squeeze the bulb with the opposite hand to inflate the cuff.inflate to a number 30 to 40 points above the previous systolic reading.(can you please tell me what that underline quote mean)

5) slowly release the air from the cuff and listen for the swooshing sound of the blood in your arteries. watch the dial and note the number it shows when you first hear the 'swoosh'.this is your systolic blood pressure, which is the rate of contraction pushing blood out of the heart and through the body.

6) listen until you can no longer hear the swooshing sound of your blood and note the number on the dial. this is your diastolic blood pressure, which measures the rest between heart beats.

7) record you blood pressure with the systolic number over the diastolic number.

~source: http://www.ehow.com/how_4928825_read-aneroid-blood-pressure-monitor.html

[MotivatedOne]

squeeze the bulb with the opposite hand to inflate the cuff.inflate to a number 30 to 40 points above the previous systolic reading.(can you please tell me what that underline quote mean)

i'm guessing it's referring to an initial reading...like say if it's a patient's second visit at a clinic and his/her previous blood pressure was recorded as being 140/85 then you'd inflate the cuff to 170 or 180.

but i think a general rule...especially if you don't have a previous bp, is to inflate the cuff between 160 and 180...i could be wrong though but that's usually what i do when checking a blood pressure manually.

hope this helps!

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Yeah I think they're referring to the person's baseline.

But they do teach a 2-step method where you pump up the cuff until you can't feel the pulse anymore. Then you deflate and do it again and pump it up 30 points above that number. That gives you an idea of what the systolic number is so you don't pump it up too high and hurt the person's arm.

[tavia_yeung]

thanks you guys for the replies...i'm source of getting it now...just have 2 practice w/ it when i get a chance in school!!!