Assessment of the techniques of blood pressure measurement by health professionals.
OBJECTIVE
To assess blood pressure measurement by health professionals of a public hospital in S o Paulo State.


METHODS
Semi-structured interviews and direct observation were performed with a verification list according to the criteria reported by Perloff et al. One hundred and five health professionals took part in the study. After measuring blood pressure, the level of concordance between the way the procedure was performed and the recommended one was assessed.


RESULTS
Nurses and nurse's aides abided by 40% of the recommended procedures for adequate blood pressure measurement. The other categories of health professionals (nursing and medicine teachers, physicians, residents, and nursing students) abided by approximately 70%.


CONCLUSIONS
Permanent educational activities aiming at standardizing blood pressure measurement should be implemented among the different categories of health professionals.
Veiga
Eugenia Velludo
EV
Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, USP, Brazil. evveiga@eerp.usp.br
Nogueira
Maria Suely
MS
Cárnio
Evelin Capellari
EC
Marques
Sueli
S
Lavrador
Marco Aurélio S
MA
de Moraes
Suzana Alves
SA
Souza
Luciana A C
LA
Lima
Nereida K C
NK
Nobre
Fernando
F
D000328:Adult; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D001938:Brazil; D002138:Calibration; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011786:Quality Control; D015203:Reproducibility of Results