Bad Blood Pressure Measurement Is Killing Our Patients

Our secret shame: we suck at checking blood pressure right. Here's how to fix that and save lives.

[Team_]

I'm so thankful for doctors like this

[bethhayes]

Yes!! Im a night shift nurse. When my CNA comes to me with a high BP that's out of the norm for that patient, I always go and take the cuff off, make sure its the right size, position it properly. Tell the patient to lie still, relax l and NOT TALK. I look at the machine and dont talk either. Amazingly many times it is normal!! Yes, def a pet peeve for me.

[berniceanderson]

At my clinic they always take weight first in hallway. Then put you in room and immediately take BP.
The anxiety of having being weighed for many is real.
And if weight you hear is higher than expected, BP often goes up more yet.

[woodyk]

Every time I go to see a doctor, they check my blood pressure incorrectly and tell me I have a high blood pressure until recently I visited a new doctor who suggested that I buy a blood pressure machine at home and do this every day and report to her after a month of testing. The results showed that my blood pressure is very normal. No need for any medications with many side effects.
Glad I met this new doctor.

[pinkster]

As a larger person I cannot count the number of times I've been told I have high blood pressure by people using a blood pressure sleeved it looks like it was designed for a child the pressure will always come out incredibly too high and then if they put you on medication for it next thing you know you're in the hospital because you blood pressure crashes these people are insane nobody wants to do it right thank you for making this video

[PedroStaziaki]

Geez! Finally someone said it. I’m a doctor from Brazil living and working in the US since 2014 and NO ONE in the US has ever measured my BP correctly when I go to my physical.

[nancykaia]

Retired nurse here. Dr prescribed hubby an ARB for HTN. He filled the script and I told him don’t you dare take any until we do a journal diary of his BP over time. This morning’s BP after exercise, supine was 102/66. He’s a retired airline pilot and flies his little plane now. Thanks for your PSA. I did recommend he focus on lifestyle changes - diet exercise and stress management.

[kevinkelley]

I am over weight, and my bp is borderline high. The professionals who check my bp never never never check it correctly. My arm is too big for the standard cuff, they check it with me hanging off the edge of the exam table, just after I have ran a marathon through some maze of a medical office. I really appreciate this video. I will never agree to bp meds when they cannot do their job correctly.

[gjesy]

Oh my gosh thank you! As a nurse and as a patient, I bring this up regularly! I get so frustrated when I’m run back and cuff is slapped on and they want to tell me my BP is elevated, I explained this to my MD when she came in and asked for it to be retaken, she refused and instead wanted to treat a slightly elevated pressure! Needless to say I got a new PCP and it’s a miracle, properly taken B/P, never elevated. Med pushing docs piss me off to no end, and tech’s and nurses that don’t take a proper B/P. It’s the basics people!

[RVD]

Thank you!!! I teach nursing school and this is one of the first activities we do in lab. The students come in having completed their training as nursing assistants. It's my job to take them from data collectors to critical thinkers. I have them take vital signs using different routes and equipment and we compare results, techniques, etc. to see what improves accuracy. We talk about how important the accuracy of their assessments will be as nurses and how treatment decisions are effected by the data they collect and report. Thanks for this!

[josephmarino]

Thanks for the advice Doctor, too bad most Dr. Offices don’t follow this. Almost every Dr office I’ve been to have you sit in a waiting room with TV blasting loud, constantly called up to reception desk asking about insurance info and updates on personal info then rush you to exam room and slap the BP cuff over your shirt and talk to you as you have to jump on the exam table…

[BucurEST]

In clinical research, I teach my clinical team these very steps to obtain accurate reading. Great video

[jsullivan]

Treat the stress! The blood pressure comes down! Counsel your patients. We do this with SOLDIERS all the time. My eyes were OPENED: we check it 6-10 times over 3-5 days and we rarely have to start meds. Stress is the reason, dropping it is the cure.

[jenniferwilson]

YES!!! I have never found one doctor’s office that does it correctly. I am a nurse and this drives me insane!!!

[dpfeifer]

OMG, I am a nurse and this drives me crazy!! He is totally right! Also, in clinics and most doctor offices the machines and monomiters are rarely calibrated, which also effects the readings. And the instructions on the home bp cuffs say to take 3 readings a few minutes apart, and average them, which most people do not do. Plus if the batteries are low in the home machine or a battery operated one in an office, the reading will be off as well. At an office visit, I once had to insist my pressure be retaken with new could hear that the machine was slowly inflating the cuff and new the batteries needed changing. Watch out for that. Home cuffs are not as accurate as using stethoscopes and manual cuffs, but that is a skill that has to be taught. So, the main issue is that education in bp taking is not actually being taught correctly anymore. The theory behind why you do certain things is being lost. And relying on machines is the norm.

[EdwardCurrent]

At past dr. and dentist visits I have exhibited borderline hypertension. It says on my chart "white coat hypertension." At my most recent dr. appointment in March, I actually protested that my BP would be checked for the second time in three months because I didn't want to deal with the hassle. But the nurse brought in a pillow and put it under my elbow. I had never seen this before and asked about it, and she told me the arm has to be at the level of the heart. When the cuff was about to start deflating, she told me to think happy thoughts and then was quiet.

My BP was 120/79. I never want to hear about white coat hypertension ever again.

[mommasoto]

Love that you say stop talking! Yes!!! I'm not even a nurse (but I was my dad & mom's caretaker and learned a lot from some great med professionals). It always drove me crazy when they'd say it was high, when they checked it moments after I walked into the rm, were talking to me the whole time, and put it over my shirt, even if I tried to move it out of the way. But you're right everyone is in such a rush they neglect how much all you mentioned affects the numbers.

[LoveJoyPeace]

I have literally never had my blood pressure checked the way ZDogg is stating.

[seeamerica]

Absolutely correct everything you said. Truthfully I think they do it on purpose to try to get your BP high enough so they can prescribe meds ...I have white coat syndrome because my job has a limit on what employees' BP can be + I usually border close to it, if I'm over the mark I'm laid off so I've learned the correct methods. I have been to dozens of clinics over the years probably totaling 50 times + EVERY SINGLE TIME someone would try to measure me wrong. It's so frustrating, sometimes I try to correct them only to get rebuttals + replies like 'Oh it's ok to measure your arm with clothing, or it's ok to talk, that's a myth, etc Sometimes I'ld refuse when told to hop up on a table where there's no back support + my feet would be dangling. Some never even supported my arm at heart level, some would ask constant questions while taking my BP.. Not one of them would give me a few minutes to relax after walking through the halls of a clinic + taking weight measurements etc. Others quoted my measurement but only if I asked for it. Also sad are these people who don't know a persons BP goes up as you age, so what is normal for a senior is not the same as a teenager...= ask the geriatric society

[idontneedthis]

OMG THANK YOU! As someone who is straddling the line of good to pre-hypertension (admittedly I'm not healthy) it infuriates me when I go to the docs and they say "OMG your BP is 145/100!", when it consistently sits in the 118-138/78-89 range (varies a lot based on how stressful the job is that day). Doc tried to put me on blood pressure meds (low dose water pills) that made me feel like absolute crap; I nearly passed out when I jumped up quickly from under a car after 1 week on the meds (I was more than sufficiently hydrating due to the heat and to make up for the extra urination from the meds). Needless to say I stopped taking that crap