Recent deliberations of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation's sphygmomanometer committee with respect to neonates, infants, and children.
The sphygmomanometer committee of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has the responsibility for writing American national standards for performance both of nonautomated and of automated (electronic) sphygmomanometers. These voluntary standards are used by organizations that wish to market devices within the USA. These standards, published by AAMI, may also be used by the Food and Drug Administration for determining whether these devices may be sold in the USA. During the past few years a pediatric subcommittee has been formed. Bruce S. Alpert is its chairman and Myron L. Cohen, is co-chair. The first portion of this article will summarize the deliberations which resulted in an amendment to the AAMI document SP10 [1] in relation to automated sphygmomanometers for use on neonates [2]. The amendment appears in its entirety at the end of this article. The second portion of the article will deal with the implications of the 1996 update to the 1987 Task Force's Report [3] and the efforts of certain pediatric scientists to have the National Institutes of Health (NIH) modify or retract much of that report.
Alpert
BS
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, USA.