title: Assessment of the techniques of blood pressure measurement by health professionals.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, USP, Brazil. evveiga@eerp.usp.br
authors.forename: Eugenia Velludo
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Veiga
authors.forename: Maria Suely
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Nogueira
authors.forename: Evelin Capellari
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Cárnio
authors.forename: Sueli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.forename: Marco Aurélio S
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lavrador
authors.forename: Suzana Alves
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: de Moraes
authors.forename: Luciana A C
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Nereida K C
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nobre
mesh_terms: 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