High blood pressure is often referred to as the silent killer. There may be no signs or symptoms until it is too late. Therefore it is important to check your blood pressure regularly. This guide will show you take someones blood pressure.
Instructions
Take Someone's Blood Pressure
1. Have the person rest for three to five minutes before measuring their blood pressure.
2. Make sure they are seated in a comfortable position, with their legs and ankles uncrossed and their back supported. Place their arm, raised to the level of their heart, on a table or a desk.
3. Wrap the correctly sized cuff smoothly and snugly around the upper part of the bare arm. The cuff should fit snugly, but there should be enough room for you to slip one fingertip under the cuff. Do not wrap the cuff around their shirt, the cuff should always be wrapped around the arm skin. Be certain that the bottom edge of the cuff is 1 inch above the crease of the elbow.
4. Put the stethoscope ear pieces into your ears, with the ear pieces facing forward. Place the stethoscope disk on the inner side of the crease of the persons elbow. Rapidly inflate the cuff by squeezing the rubber bulb to measure a systolic pressure of around two hundred. Inflate the cuff rapidly. Inflating the cuff too slowly will cause a false reading.
5. Slightly loosen the valve and slowly let some air out of the cuff. Deflate the cuff by 2 to 3 millimeters per second. As you let the air out of the cuff, you will begin to hear the heartbeat. Listen carefully for the first sound. Check the blood pressure reading by looking at the pointer on the dial. This number will be the systolic pressure.
6. Continue to deflate the cuff, still listening to the heartbeat. You will hear the heartbeat stop at some point. Check the reading on the dial. This number is the diastolic pressure. Write down the blood pressure, putting the systolic pressure before the diastolic pressure.
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