The Frequency of Errors of Blood Pressure Measurement among Nurses in the Hospitals Affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, 2014

Background: The global prevalence of hypertension is one billion persons resulting in about 7.1 million deaths per year. In Iran, no statics of hypertension is available, but it has been reported that 40% of deaths are caused by cardiovascular diseases. Measuring blood pressure is one of the basic principles of medical examinations; however, the quality of the scientific standards of its technique is not highly observed.

Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of errors of measuring blood pressure among B.Sc. nurses working at in government hospitals of Shiraz, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 nurses selected from various wards. The study data were collected using the standard check list of blood pressure measurement, technique of American Heart Association (AHA guideline), and a questionnaire containing questions regarding knowledge about blood pressure measurement skills.

Results: This study showed that 54.0% and 78.0% of the participants obtained moderate scores (50 - 74.99) in the theoretical and practical tests, respectively. The results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient demonstrated no significant relationship between the scores of theory and practice (P > 0.05). Most of the errors in measuring blood pressure in this research consisted of not measuring blood pressure at two stages, not observing its preparations and the proper time interval between the two stages, and not observing the measuring arrangements according to the checklist.

Conclusions: Considering the participants’ theory and practice scores, it was concluded that evaluation of blood pressure measurement, which is an important basis in diagnosis and treatment, should be considered as an educational priority of health teams.