Measuring Blood Pressure

[simonineaston]

just as a v. quick aside, I bought the cheapest Chinese blood pressure monitor I could find when it first emerged that my own pressure may be straying into hypertension and compared it with the measuring device the practice nurse uses - not on old fashioned sphygmomanometer or mercury column but a presumably fairly accurate digital device - and found my cheapo jobbie to be reading differently and therefore, misleading.

[Jdsk]

just as a v. quick aside, I bought the cheapest Chinese blood pressure monitor I could find when it first emerged that my own pressure may be straying into hypertension and compared it with the measuring device the practice nurse uses - not on old fashioned sphygmomanometer or mercury column but a presumably fairly accurate digital device - and found my cheapo jobbie to be reading differently and therefore, misleading.

I wouldn't assume that any such commercial device is either accurate or precise. A validated list of devices is available, as previously posted.

Jonathan

PS: What healthcare practitioners should do with patient-generated data is an extremely interesting issue and an increasing problem.

[Bonefishblues]

Useful list here:

https://bihsoc.org/bp-monitors/for-home-use/

ETA
I'm assuming this is Jonathan's list?

[Jdsk]

That's the one. And it's explicitly recommended in the relevant NICE guideline:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng136/ ... d-pressure

Jonathan

[thirdcrank]

As I must have posted before - possibly on this thread - knowing how it should be done can tend to increase the stress when it isn't. That's been my experience in the cardiology (?) outpatients of a local hospital.

I understand that may be caused by overworked/under-resourced staff trying to meet targets but that doesn't effect what I'm saying

[simonineaston]

Me neither... the difference between the guidence linked by Jonathan and what I had at my local medical centre is quite large!

[uwidavid]

*thread drift warning*. I recently had the misfortune to spend several days in hospital. I would like to know what is the obsession with measuring blood pressure every few hours? To be woken up in the middle of the night (and it's difficult enough to get to sleep in hospital) to have your blood pressure checked is designed to elevate it. Is it the (relatively) new electronic gadgets that make it too easy? If you had to get a doctor with a mercury manometer to do it I'm sure it would not be done very often (if at all). Note: I was not in for anything related to the heart or high/low blood pressure.

[Jdsk]

It's been there in many protocols for many years. It is easier with *automated devices.

It might be possible to make some suggestions on why they wanted to measure yours if you told us why you were in hospital...

Jonathan

* The next challenge is to automate the handling of the results.

[millimole]

* The next challenge is to automate the handling of the results.

My wife has been in a cardiac unit over the last 24 hours. The tablet devices used by the ward staff collected the readings from the monitor once the BP was done, and could show quite clever graphs which could if required correlate with other results (Troponin, CK, pulse, temperature were the ones I saw)

[Jdsk]

* The next challenge is to automate the handling of the results.

My wife has been in a cardiac unit over the last 24 hours. The tablet devices used by the ward staff collected the readings from the monitor once the BP was done, and could show quite clever graphs which could if required correlate with other results (Troponin, CK, pulse, temperature were the ones I saw)

That's good to hear. IIRC you have a professional understanding of the issues!

Yes. Most of the necessary component technologies are in place somewhere. More common in cardiac units. HDUs, ICUs etc. But often not all in the same place together. And even the leading sites don't use as much as autoidentification technology as I'd like. And the databases are still often not connected to the provider's other systems.

Best wishes to her.

Jonathan

[uwidavid]

Jonathan,
It wasn't just me everybody on the ward got tested (very regularly) and for blood O2 (I wonder how accurate these little LED devices are as it always seems to come out 98% or greater) . I can remember my systolic it was between 160 and 200. There was no discussion or follow up of this (assuming this is a little high) as I said I was in for something completely unrelated.
When I was in hospital in the early '90s I cannot recall ever having my blood pressure checked.

[Jdsk]

Thanks.

Pulse oximeters are very interesting. They were introduced into all sorts of practice without much high-quality evaluation. And then their use in clinical settings and at home exploded with COVID. They're probably helpful in supporting detection of deterioration in inpatients earlier than would be the case.

Of course the staff time spent in using this sort of technology is one of the major costs. And that's why automation can be so valuable, as above.

Jonathan

[Mick F]

I've had a bike ride, a dog walk, a couple of beers, done the washing and hung it on the line, brought it in nearly dry, lit the fire, and hung the nearly dry washing on the rack above the fire.
I've been a busy boy!

Sitting here and just opened my iBook and logged in.
Put on my BP device .................. sitting "correctly" and set the thing running.
Remember, Thursday evening it was 106 over 56.

Now, it's 149 over 89

Go figure.
I can't be bothered any more.

[Jdsk]

I've had a bike ride, a dog walk, a couple of beers, done the washing and hung it on the line, brought it in nearly dry, lit the fire, and hung the nearly dry washing on the rack above the fire.
I've been a busy boy!

Sitting here and just opened my iBook and logged in.
Put on my BP device .................. sitting "correctly" and set the thing running.
Remember, Thursday evening it was 106 over 56.

Now, it's 149 over 89

Go figure.
I can't be bothered any more.

What are you asking us to "figure"? Blood pressure in an individual varies. Some of the factors are listed above.

Are you saying that you expected your measured blood pressure to be lower on this occasion?

Thanks

Jonathan

[Mick F]

Chilled out.
Nice and warm and cosy.
Eaten, done stuff, nice and relaxed, and chilled out.
Dog eaten, parrot out of the cage and on her perch preening, R4 on.
Cats fed and quiet.
Spoken to Mrs Mick F out in Gambia via FB Messenger - and she's home on Wednesday

Here I am, and against my better judgement, tried again with the BP monitor.
Did it twice, and with a couple of minutes between, and did it properly with legs down onto the floor, and right arm on the arm of the chair. BP monitor at heart level on the left.

122 over 73
116 over 51