Question

Hunter is a nursing assistant measuring blood pressure. He positions the patient's arm above the heart, palm facing down. He then places the cuff on the patient and places the arrow on the radial artery. He then uses a stethoscope and continues to finish with the blood pressure. Which best describes the error(s) he made?

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1. The patient's arm should be level with the heart and palm up, and the cuff arrow should be lined up with the brachial artery.

2. The patient's arm should be below the level of the heart.

3. The cuff should be on the patient's carotid artery

4. The patient's hand should be in a fist, and a stethoscope should not be used to take blood pressure.

Answer 1

Answer Option 1. The patient's arm should be level with the heart and palm up, and the cuff arrow should be lined up with the brachial artery

Option 1 is correct as the arm level of patient has to be at heart level to have no obstruction to blood flow and give proper measurement results. The palm facing up is the natural resting position of the body and is widely used for medical measuring. The brachial artery is where sthesthoscpe is kept to measure the blood pressure

Option 2 is incorrect as patients arm should be at level with the heart for blood pressure measurement

Option 3 is incorrect as cuff should be on brachial artery and not corotid

Option 4 is incorrect as patient's hand must not make a fist but should be open palm position for blood pressure measurement