Nurses’ knowledge of error in blood pressure measurement technique

Abstract

Errors in measuring blood pressure may have significant impact on the investigation and treatment of patients. Errors arise from faults in measurement technique or the equipment used. In Australia, blood pressure measurement technique is taught to nurses during their undergraduate education and may not be reviewed again. This observational, descriptive study surveyed clinical nurses at a metropolitan teaching hospital at shift hand-over time. Participation was voluntary and anonymous by 78 nurses who answered a questionnaire to determine the need and focus for updating blood pressure measurement technique. Sixty-one per cent of participants conformed to currently accepted practice in identifying systolic blood pressure, and 71% diastolic blood pressure; 54% correctly interpreted a description of blood pressure sounds containing an auscultatory gap. Correct answers for assessment of faulty equipment were given by 58%, assessing cuff size by 57%, arm position for seated measurement by 14%, determination of inflation pressure by 29% and deflation rate 62%. Incidence of terminal digit preference was 32%. These findings indicate that knowledge of participants was inadequate to perform blood pressure measurement in a standardized manner, and prevent introduced error.

Enfermeiros de Unidade de Terapia Intensiva adulto: avaliação sobre medida direta e indireta da pressão arterial

“…The domains chosen to compose the questionnaire (D1-D6) were considered relevant when compared with other studies that also administered questionnaires (2,5,(9)(10)19) to evaluate knowledge about BP measurement. Many cardiovascular diseases are present on the day-to-day of ICU patients, as well as the BP measurement.…”

“…Errors or omission of basic care during BP measurement are documented in national and international studies for over two decades (2,(4)(5)(6)(7)(8) . These errors may be related to unfamiliarity or outdated knowledge of (1)(2)5,8) the technique of BP measurement, which, often, has been studied by the nurses for the last time at the undergraduate level (9)(10) .…”

“…Concerned with the number of available studies about measurement errors in BP (1,4,7) , with the gaps in the theoretical and practical knowledge of nurses on the subject (3,5,9) , and with the lack of studies in the area of adult intensive care (2,8) , we chose to perform this study, which aimed at characterizing the theoretical knowledge of nurses who work in adult ICU about methods (direct and indirect) and BP measurement, and evaluate the satisfaction of nurses regarding the knowledge they have of methods and BP measurement in adult ICU.…”

Tables for the selection of correct blood pressure cuff size based on self-reported height and weight and estimating equations for mid-arm circumference: data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

“…Surveys of nursing practice reported similar problems. 16,17 The ratio of the cuff bladder width (CW) to midarm circumference (CW/AC) is a key parameter for selecting an appropriate BP cuff size. A CW/AC ratio of 0.40 is recommended to give the optimum fit for accurate BP measurement.…”

Elaboração de uma hipermídia educacional para o ensino do procedimento de medida de pressão arterial para utilização em ambiente digital de aprendizagem

“…A dificuldade na execução da técnica por parte dos profissionais de saúde foi verificada em vários estudos [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] . Em nosso meio, um estudo analisou 179 profissionais de saúde, sendo 110 auxiliares de enfermagem, 44 médicos e 25 enfermeiros, avaliando o conhecimento teórico e prático destes por meio de questionário e pela observação do procedimento e realização simultânea da medida.…”