Blood pressure is the force exerted by the flow of blood against the walls of the blood vessels. It varies with the strength of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the arterial walls, the volume and viscosity of the blood. Blood pressure is affected by a person’s health, age, and physical condition. It is frequently used to monitor patients. Blood pressure can be measured manually using a sphygmomanometer or automatically by using an electronic device. In this film, we will show the use of a Greenlight sphygmomanometer, to measure blood pressure manually.<\/p>\n
Once you have watched this video, why not attempt the multiple choice quiz to test your knowledge?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blood pressure is the force exerted by the flow of blood against the walls of the blood vessels. It varies with the strength of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the arterial walls, the volume and viscosity of the blood. Blood pressure is affected by a person’s health, age, and physical condition. It is frequently used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tomorrows-clinicians","category-uncategorized","entry"],"youtubeVideo":"511083078\/5674ae09b1","question1":"What physiological factors determine the blood pressure (BP)?","answers1":"Elasticity of the blood vessels| Viscosity of the blood| Volume of blood| All of the above","correctAnswer1":"3","correctAnswerText1":"","question2":"What patient factors can determine the BP?","answers2":"Age| Health| Physical condition| All of the above\r\n","correctAnswer2":"3","correctAnswerText2":"","question3":"What should the patient not do immediately before a BP measurement?","answers3":"Eat or drink| Take medication| Physical activity| All of the above","correctAnswerText3":"Physical activity can increase the BP, giving a falsely elevated BP.","correctAnswer3":"2","question4":"The \u201cartery\u201d mark on the BP cuff should be centred over which artery?","answers4":"Radial artery| Brachial artery| Ulnar artery| Axillary artery\r\n","correctAnswer4":"1","correctAnswerText4":"The brachial artery is conventionally used to take a non-invasive blood pressure measurement in the arm.","question5":"How is the brachial BP estimated?","answers5":"Using a stethoscope over the brachial artery| Using a stethoscope over the radial artery| Palpating the radial pulse| Using a hand held doppler","correctAnswer5":"2","correctAnswerText5":"While inflating the sphygmomanometer over the brachial artery, wait for the radial pulse to disappear to estimate the systolic BP.","question6":"A correctly sized BP cuff has a bladder that encompasses what percentage of the patients arm? ","answers6":"80%| 60%| 40%| 20%\r\n","correctAnswer6":"0","correctAnswerText6":"The bladder must encompasses 80% of the circumference of the arm to give an accurate reading.","question7":"How many Korotkoff sounds are there?","answers7":"3| 4| 5| 6\r\n","correctAnswer7":"2","correctAnswerText7":"There are 5 Korotkoff sounds described by Dr Nikolai Korotkoff (1874-1920) a St Petersburg surgeon.","question8":"Which Korotkoff sounds are used to determine the systolic and diastolic BP?","answers8":"The 1st Korotkoff sound corresponds to the systolic BP| The 4th Korotkoff sound corresponds to the diastolic BP| The 5th Korotkoff sound corresponds to the diastolic BP| All of the above.\r\n","correctAnswer8":"3","correctAnswerText8":"The 1st Korotkoff sound is the initial sound heard when the cuff pressure equals the systolic BP creating turbulent flow and a \u201cthud\u201d like noise. The 5th Korortkoff sound is when the muffled sounds of the 4th sound disappears, (i.e. silence) and is the most accurate measure of the diastolic BP. However in some healthy people the muffled noise of the 4th Korotkoff sound does not disappear, in these cases the start of the 4th Korotkoff sound is used to measure the diastolic BP.","question9":"Why is the BP cuff inflated 20 -30mmHg above the estimated systolic BP before auscultation?","answers9":"To avoid under-estimation of the systolic BP caused by the auscultatory gap| To avoid over-estimation of the diastolic BP by an absent 5th Korotkoff sound| To avoid over-estimation of the systolic BP by incorrect use of the 2nd Korotkoff sound| To avoid under-estimation of the diastolic BP by a faulty stethoscope.\r\n","correctAnswer9":"0","correctAnswerText9":"The auscultatory gap is where the Korotkoff sounds disappears just below the true systolic BP and reappear above the true diastolic BP, this can occur in healthy individuals and may lead to incorrect BP measurements if the BP is not inflated 20 -30mmHg above the estimated systolic BP","question10":"Which of these medications is likely to affect the BP?","answers10":"Aspirin| Amlodipine| Azathioprine| Augmentin\r\n","correctAnswer10":"1","correctAnswerText10":"Amlodipine is a Calcium channel blocker used to lower BP by reducing vascular tone.","question11":"","answers11":"","correctAnswer11":"","correctAnswerText11":"","question12":"","answers12":"","correctAnswer12":"","correctAnswerText12":"","question13":"","answers13":"","correctAnswer13":"","correctAnswerText13":"","question14":"","answers14":"","correctAnswer14":"","correctAnswerText14":"","question15":"","answers15":"","correctAnswer15":"","correctAnswerText15":"","icon":"measuring-blood-pressure","parentId":"","recapId":"349","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":515,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions\/515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vapp.rguc.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}