Sunday, 18 July 2010

How to read the BLOOD PRESSURE Gauge




How to Take BLOOD PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
To take the reading, follow these steps:
1. Leaving the Cuff's lower edge about an inch above the bend of the elbow, place the cuff over your bare arm, close the cuff around the arm, and then stick the Velcro together at the ends of the Cuff.

2. Place the earpieces of the stethoscope in your ears and place the stethoscope bell at the side of the cuff away from your heart and over the brachial artery, which is found in the inner area of your bent elbow. 

The Stethoscope is a convenient measure device for listening sounds the various sites,has a point of contact known as the stethoscope's Bell. The two earpieces at the other end of the stethoscope enable to hear the "steady" -within the normal rate-, a Thump in the brachial artery.


3. Tighten the screw at the side of the rubber bulb and squeeze the bulb.
Air is pumped into the bulb, and thus the cuff expands.

4. The Cuff is inflated until the blood flow through your brachial artery stops.
With sufficient compression, the cuff cuts off blood flow through the artery, and no sound is heard in the stethoscope. The pressure in the cuff is increased rapidly to 30 millimeters of mercury above the point that no blood flow is taking place through the cuff when no sound can be heard in the stethoscope or when a pulse can no longer be felt in the wrist.

5. Turn the screw again to loosen the valve in the bulb and to lessen the air pressure.
Pressure is then decreased so that the rate of drop is 2 millimeters per second. When the pressure falls to the point that blood begins to flow through the artery again, the number that the column of mercury has risen to at the first sound heard in the stethoscope is the systolic blood pressure (SBP), the first number in the blood pressure reading.

6. Look at the column of mercury to see the number at that pressure point.

7. When the Cuff decompresses to the point that blood flows freely in the artery, the sound is no longer heard in the stethoscope.
The number next to the top of the column of mercury when the sound ceases is the diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the second number in the blood pressure reading.

8. Again, look at the column of mercury to see the number at that pressure point.

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