- Explains procedure, speaking clearly, slowly and directly, maintaining face-to-face contact whenever possible
- Before using stethoscope, wipes bell/diaphragm and earpieces of stethoscope with alcohol
- Client’s arm is positioned with palm up and upper arm is exposed
- Feels for brachial artery on inner aspect of arm, at bend of elbow
- Places blood pressure cuff snugly on client’s upper arm, with sensor/arrow over brachial artery site
- Earpieces of stethoscope are in ears and bell/ diaphragm is over brachial artery site
- Candidate does one of the following:
a. Inflates cuff between 160 mm Hg to 180 mm Hg. (If beat heard immediately upon cuff deflation, completely deflate cuff .) Re-inflate cuff to no more than 200 mm Hg. OR
b. Inflates cuff 30 mm Hg beyond where radial or brachial pulse was last heard or felt - Deflates cuff slowly and notes the first sound (systolic reading) and last sound (diastolic reading) (If rounding needed, measurements are rounded UP to the nearest 2 mm of mercury)
- Removes cuff
- Signaling device is within reach
- Washes hands
- After obtaining reading using BP cuff and
stethoscope, records both systolic and diastolic
pressures each within plus or minus 8 mm of
evaluator’s reading
* This is a one-step blood pressure procedure. However, if a candidate correctly performs a two-step blood pressure procedure that includes step 7b, the candidate will not be penalized and will be given credit for step 7.
