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Assessing pharmacy students' ability to accurately measure blood pressure using a blood pressure simulator arm
Michelle M Bottenberg1, Ginelle A Bryant, Sally L Haack
1College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505, USA. michelle.bottenberg@drake.edu
Objective:
To compare student accuracy in measuring normal and high blood pressures using a simulator arm.
Methods:
In this prospective, single-blind, study involving third-year pharmacy students, simulator arms were programmed with prespecified normal and high blood pressures. Students measured preset normal and high diastolic and systolic blood pressure using a crossover design.
Results:
One hundred sixteen students completed both blood pressure measurements. There was a significant difference between the accuracy of high systolic blood pressure (HSBP) measurement and normal systolic blood pressure (NSBP) measurement (mean HSBP difference 8.4 ± 10.9 mmHg vs NSBP 3.6 ± 6.4 mmHg; p<0.001). However, there was no difference between the accuracy of high diastolic blood pressure (HDBP) measurement and normal diastolic blood pressure (NDBP) measurement (mean HDBP difference 6.8 ± 9.6 mmHg vs. mean NDBP difference 4.6 ± 4.5 mmHg; p=0.089).
Conclusions:
Pharmacy students may need additional instruction and experience with taking high blood pressure measurements to ensure they are able to accurately assess this important vital sign.
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