Are you wondering how blood pressure can be measured using a Sphygmomanometer? Does the name imply too technical to you and likewise the way it works and functions appears difficult also? Here is a simple tutorial on how to master the Sphygmomanometer. Hope it may serve as a help to you when an emergency comes.
What you need:
• Sphygmomanometer (may it be manual or digital)
• Pen and paper
• Patient
• Yourself
Steps:
• Get your patient sit in a comfortable chair letting him or her lay his or back in the back rest and
make him rest for a while in order to be relax.
• Make sure that your patient is relax and has a stable heart beat, did not have a recent meal
and did not perform any activities like exercise; this may affect the inaccurate reading of the
manometer.
• Locate the clearest sound of heartbeat of your patient by using your hands in finding it or just
listening to the stethoscope.
• Upon locating the heart beat, level the upper arm of the patient along his or her heart level in
order to get the correct reading.
• Cover the upper arm or your patient with the inflatable cuff, you should make sure that you
wrap it not too lose or too tight o n your patients arm.
• Having a not too lose or not too tight inflatable cuff wrap in your patient’s arm provides you a
little space to insert the stethoscope receiver. This will help you hear the systolic and diastolic
blood pressure
• After inserting the stethoscope receiver inside the inflatable cuff. This stethoscope receiver is
connected to your ears as for you to determine the systolic and the diastolic blood pressures.
• Make sure that you are looking at the manometer which is located in the bulb or the valve you
will be pumping. The face of the manometer which has the arrow and the numbers must be
visible to you.
• Rapidly pump air or pressure into your patients arm, then slowly by slowly release the pressure.
• Watch out for the pounding sound or the quick whooshing sound that the released pressure
made. At the same time look at the manometer and record the number that the arrow pointed
on a piece of paper. That sound serves as your patient’s systolic blood pressure.
• After noting the systolic blood pressure, the cuff pressure should be further released and at this
time you should watch out when the whooshing sound gets dull, muffled quite suddenly and
finally cease. The point of cessation is the best indicator of the diastolic pressure.
• Look at the manometer then check out what number the arrow pointed and record it on a piece
of paper. That disappearing sound serves as your patient’s diastolic blood pressure.
• Lastly, unwrap you patient’s arm and let him or her rest for a while in order to be relax again as
to regulate his or her blood circulation after applying too much pressure on his or her arm. In
doing so your patient’s may avoid getting dizzy.