taking blood preassure

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test Monday help! Please bear with me as I am new to this site. Heres the steps and I'll post why I am so confused! (Taking the blood pressure the way im required to do it in my class, EVERWHERE IS DIFFERENT)

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1. Feel for brachial artery on inner aspect of arm, bend of elbow.

2. Pleace cuff on arm.

3. Locate radial pulse with fingertips. (should i feel for pulse to stop and count how long?)

4.Inflate cuff to no more then 30mm hg beyond where pulse is last felt. (How far is 30mm-hg?)

5. Deflate cuff.

6. Locate brachial pulse with fingertips. (why am i feeling for brachial pulse again?)

7. Earpiecesof stethoscope are in ears and bell/diaphragm is over brachial artery site

8. Inflate cuff to no more then 30mm hg beyond where pule is last felt. (How far is 30mm-hg?)

9.Deflate cuff slowly and notes the first sound (systolic) and last sound diastolic

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Please help if you can thanks so much!

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test Monday help! Please bear with me as I am new to this site. Heres the steps and I'll post why I am so confused! (Taking the blood pressure the way im required to do it in my class, EVERWHERE IS DIFFERENT)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Feel for brachial artery on inner aspect of arm, bend of elbow.

2. Pleace cuff on arm.

3. Locate radial pulse with fingertips. (should i feel for pulse to stop and count how long?)

4.Inflate cuff to no more then 30mm hg beyond where pulse is last felt. (How far is 30mm-hg?)

5. Deflate cuff.

6. Locate brachial pulse with fingertips. (why am i feeling for brachial pulse again?)

7. Earpiecesof stethoscope are in ears and bell/diaphragm is over brachial artery site

8. Inflate cuff to no more then 30mm hg beyond where pule is last felt. (How far is 30mm-hg?)

9.Deflate cuff slowly and notes the first sound (systolic) and last sound diastolic

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please help if you can thanks so much!

# 3: No you should not count the radial pulse. You are locating it so you can complete the first step of finding an initial systolic pressure.

#4:Look on the little dial with all the numbers. When you are inflating the cuff, note the position of the needle where you stop feeling the radial pulse. Add 30 to that number and when you inflate the cuff again to take the BP, use that number as your starting point. Note: our procedures said to wait one minute between inflations. (I lost a half point for that in checkoff)

#6: You are feeling for the brachial pulse again so you can position the cuff properly.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!

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The two steps had me lost but now I understand and i'm all ready for Monday. Thanks Intern67~

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

You guys have to do a palp BP and then an auscultated one? The second number is going to be off if you do them in rapid succession like that.

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Specializes in Family Practice/IM/Pediatric.

Wow wee....didn't know there was all that to it. LOL I've been doing it for years, too. I thought as long as I heard the beat I was good. Huh, got a lot to learn I see.

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Wow wee....didn't know there was all that to it. LOL I've been doing it for years, too. I thought as long as I heard the beat I was good. Huh, got a lot to learn I see.

I suspect the two step method is taught early in nursing school because it knocks out a few Board objectives in one checkoff. It also an early indication the student can follow directions and understand the reasons behind the steps.

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Specializes in Junior Year of BSN.

Did you not take the time to go to open skills lab/sim lab in your school to learn this? I know at my school if we have procedures it's up to the student to sign up for sim lab and attend skills lab if they need more one on one guidance with learning a procedure. There were always instructors and senior nursing students there and the sim lab coordinator sometimes stayed until 10pm at night helping students. Kind of last minute don't you think?

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

The point of palpating for a radial pulse is to know where it is...you are not actually taking a pulse. You know that to take a pulse, you place two fingers on the radial artery and you can count for 15 seconds then multiply by 4, count for 30 seconds then multiply by 2 or count for a full minute. If the pulse is irregular I always count for a full minute.

Anyway, you are supposed to inflate the cuff (while palpating the radial pulse) until you can no longer feel it. This is supposed to estimate the systolic pressure. Deflate the cuff, let the arm rest for a bit (because if you start again you might get a false reading) then take your stethoscope, place it over the brachial artery and start inflating the cuff. Inflate it 30mmHg above where the last pulse was felt. For example, if you felt the last pulse at 110mmHg, you need to inflate the cuff at 140mmHg when you're taking the blood pressure. I hope this makes sense.

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Cherish-this is a 2-step bp and more advanced then putting a cuff on and listening for a sound, im sure the info can help many Last minute yes but I would say my time spent here was worthwhile. bye

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Specializes in Junior Year of BSN.
Cherish-this is a 2-step bp and more advanced then putting a cuff on and listening for a sound, im sure the info can help many Last minute yes but I would say my time spent here was worthwhile. bye

I understand this is the method we were taught in sim lab the first 2 weeks of foundations but were tested on our procedures during finals week which was 14 weeks later. Maybe your school is different, good luck.

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