How do you measure pressure using a sphygmomanometer?
Procedures
- To begin blood pressure measurement, use a properly sized blood pressure cuff.
- Wrap the cuff around the upper arm with the cuff’s lower edge one inch above the antecubital fossa.
- Lightly press the stethoscope’s bell over the brachial artery just below the cuff’s edge.
- Rapidly inflate the cuff to 180mmHg.
How Blood pressure is measured step by step?

Simply reverse the sides to take a blood pressure in your right arm.
- Locate your pulse. Locate your pulse by lightly pressing your index and middle fingers slightly to the inside center of the bend of your elbow (where the brachial artery is).
- Secure the cuff.
- Inflate and deflate the cuff.
- Record your blood pressure.
Can I measure my own blood pressure with sphygmomanometer?
To manually take your blood pressure, you’ll need: a blood pressure cuff with a squeezable balloon and an aneroid monitor, also known as a sphygmomanometer. An aneroid monitor is a number dial. a stethoscope.
How do you use a sphygmomanometer on yourself?
To begin, place the cuff on your bare upper arm one inch above the bend of your elbow. Pull the end of the cuff so that it’s evenly tight around your arm. You should place it tight enough so that you can only slip two fingertips under the top edge of the cuff. Make sure your skin doesn’t pinch when the cuff inflates.

How do nurses take BP?
Blood pressure measurements are obtained using a stethoscope and a sphygmomanometer , also called a blood pressure cuff. To obtain a manual blood pressure reading, the blood pressure cuff is placed around a patient’s extremity, and a stethoscope is placed over an artery.
How can a sphygmomanometer be used to measure blood pressure without a stethoscope?
Position arm so cuff is at heart level. With the first three fingers, find the radial pulse. Inflate the cuff to about 30 mmHg above the pressure at which the pulse disappears. Deflate the cuff slowly.
What do the 2 numbers in blood pressure mean?
Blood pressure is measured using two numbers: The first number, called systolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart beats. The second number, called diastolic blood pressure, measures the pressure in your arteries when your heart rests between beats.
What are the 3 numbers on blood pressure reading?
For example, if your doctor says your blood pressure is “120 over 80,” the first number, 120, is the systolic number, and the second number of your blood pressure reading is the diastolic number (80 in this example). An easy way to remember it is that both diastolic and down begin with “d.”
How do you use sphygmomanometer parts?
Wrap the cuff around the upper arm such that the lower edge of the cuff is one inch above the antecubital fossa. Press the stethoscope’s bell lightly over the brachial artery which is below the cuff’s edge. Release the air from the cuff at a moderate rate to 180mmHg.
What are parts of sphygmomanometer?
A sphygmomanometer consists of an inflatable cuff, a measuring unit (the mercury manometer, or aneroid gauge), and a mechanism for inflation which may be a manually operated bulb and valve or a pump operated electrically.
How do you manually take blood pressure?
Taking a Manual Blood Pressure: Techniques & Pitfalls
- Properly expose the patient.
- Properly position the patient.
- Select the appropriate cuff.
- Palpate the artery.
- Properly position the cuff.
- Use palpation to estimate the systolic blood pressure.
- Inflate the cuff to 30 mmHg above the palpated systolic pressure.
What is sphygmomanometer used to measure?
To measure blood pressure, your doctor uses an instrument call a sphygmomanometer, which is more often referred to as a blood pressure cuff. The cuff is wrapped around your upper arm and inflated to stop the flow of blood in your artery.
Who invented sphygmomanometer?
In 1881, von Basch created the sphygmomanometer and the first non-invasive BP measurements. However, in 1896, Scipione Riva-Rocci developed further the mercury sphygmomanometer, almost as we know it today.
What is the blood pressure if the blood pressure is 136 72?
Under the current guidelines: Normal: Less than 120/80. Elevated: Systolic between 120-129 and diastolic less than 80. Stage 1 hypertension: Systolic between 130-139 or diastolic between 80-89.
How do you count numbers in a sphygmomanometer?
When you hear it, look at the gauge and note the number that the needle is pointing to. Each dash represents one mm Hg and numbers typically appear at 10 mm Hg intervals. This number is the patient’s systolic blood pressure. Watch the gauge as you continue to listen to the heartbeat.
Why is bottom BP number high?
Diastolic pressure is the bottom number of a blood pressure reading. IDH occurs if someone has elevated diastolic blood pressure, increasing a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke. Smoking, consuming alcohol, obesity, and high blood fat may lead to IDH.
What is sphygmomanometer use?
sphygmomanometer, instrument for measuring blood pressure. It consists of an inflatable rubber cuff, which is wrapped around the upper arm and is connected to an apparatus that records pressure, usually in terms of the height of a column of mercury or on a dial (an aneroid manometer).
How does the sphygmomanometer work?
Working Mechanism: The sphygmomanometer cuff is inflated to well above expected systolic pressure. As the valve is opened, cuff pressure (slowly) decreases. When the cuff’s pressure equals the arterial systolic pressure, blood begins to flow past the cuff, creating blood flow turbulence and audible sounds.
What does a sphygmomanometer measure?
A sphygmomanometer is an instrument used to measure blood pressure which is also known as a blood pressure meter or blood pressure gauge or blood pressure monitor. The word sphygmomanometer is derived from the Greek word ‘sphygmos’ meaning beating of the heart or the pulse and manometer mean the device used for measuring the pressure or tension.
How to use a sphygmomanometer?
How to use a sphygmomanometer? Following is the procedure to be followed to use a sphygmomanometer: The length of the cuff bladder used for the measurement of blood pressure should be equal to 80% of the circumference of the upper arm.
How to reset a sphygmomanometer?
– Start by making sure the pointer is on the zero mark. – Remove the glass, then carefully remove the pointer and lift off the dial. You should now see the triangle with concave sides, on one side of which is a pin. – When correcting a linear error bend this pin very slightly along the line of the triangle side. – Broken cover glass.
What units does a sphygmomanometer measure in?
Mercury sphygmomanometer: It is the most conventional form of blood pressure apparatus and is considered to be the golden standard.