Taking Blood Pressure

Taking Blood Pressure How does someone know if they are healthy or not? Do they check their temperature, consistently check their weight, or do they calculate their body mass index? These are a few ways to keep track of one’s health. Another important way someone can ensure a healthy lifestyle is to check their blood pressure. The process of checking someone’s blood pressure can be confusing, but it can determine whether or not they are at risk for health problems and if they need to keep track of their blood pressure more often.
With every visit to a physician, a nurse will conduct a series of steps to analyze one’s health. One of these steps includes, taking the patients’ blood pressure and in order for a Nurse to properly take blood pressure, she/he needs to follow a specific set of steps. These steps must be followed in a chronological order in order to achieve an accurate calculation. The first step is to gather all the equipment. The equipment includes a stethoscope and an arm cuff. Attached to the arm cuff is a rubber bulb and a column of mercury. Once the nurse gathers this equipment, she/he will then need to find and identify their patient. The nurse will then put the arm cuff on the patient, but not too tightly. The arm cuff can go on either arm as long as it is above the elbow and on bare skin. Once the cuff is properly on, the nurse will then have to find a pulse on the arm with the cuff.
The pulse is an important aspect of determining someone’s blood pressure. The pulse can be found at the bend of the elbow or in other words, the brachial artery. Once a pulse is found, the stethoscope bell will be placed over the pulse and will remain here until the blood pressure reading is complete. The other end of the stethoscope will contain earpieces and they will go in each of the nurse’s ears. The nurse will then take the rubber bulb attached to the cuff and start squeezing continuously at a medium pace. The cuff is inflated until the blood flow to the