Why do nurses measure blood pressure?

Dear leopardlady-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

I assume you want to know why a person’s blood pressure is measured
and not why nurses are the ones who normally perform these checks in a
clinical setting.

Millions of people suffer from potentially fatal high blood pressure
and the majority of them show no symptoms of the disease, which is why
it is often referred to as a "silent killer". Blood pressure is
measured because it is important to know the patient’s physical
condition while under medical care, and it is one of the most
non-invasive methods of getting an overall picture of one’s health.
Certain medications are not appropriate in patients who suffer from
high blood pressure and in other instances prescribed medications can
actually cause adverse reactions and raise the blood pressure levels
in patients inappropriately. In the latter case of course, if the
blood pressure level is elevated or drops dramatically, the offending
medication might need to be adjusted or discontinued. This is one of
the chief reasons why nurses make multiple visits to patient’s room
throughout the night to check their blood pressure (among other things
perhaps).

In addition, the measurement of blood pressure is a good indicator of
one’s health and the measurements are recorded in your personal file.
This establishes a historic health trend for you that can be reviewed
by your doctor at a later date. If your blood pressure rises over a
period of years, for example, accompanied by significant weight gain
or heavy smoking or drinking, it might be prudent for your physician
to suggest a weight loss program, dietary change or a cessation
program to you. If your blood pressure trend rises and is accompanied
by fatigue, dizziness, muscle cramps or chronic headache and so forth,
this might be an early indicator of such things as arteriosclerosis
(hardening of the arteries), elevated cholesterol and/or arterial
blockages. These conditions can be quite serious and can lead to
stroke, paralysis and even death.

Incidentally, that little bulb device that’s used to measure your
blood pressure is called a “sphygmomanometer”
(sss-fig-no-ma-nom-eter). If you ever hear this question on a radio
call-in contest, well, that’s the answer.

I hope you find that that my research exceeds your expectations. If
you have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga



INFORMATION SOURCES

LIFEHEART
http://www.lifeheart.com/patient/heart_basics/blood_pressure.asp
http://www.lifeheart.com/patient/heart_basics/blood_pressure.asp#itemone

A-Z OF HEALTH
http://www.webhealth.co.uk/WebHealth_A-Z_of_Health/About_High_Blood_Pressure_A_Ge/about_high_blood_pressure_a_ge.html

GET SMART ABOUT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, THE SILENT KILLER
http://medicalreporter.health.org/tmr052000/Get_Smart_About_High_Blood_Pressure.html

LIFECLINIC.COM
http://www.lifeclinic.com/focus/blood/default.asp


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

BLOOD PRESSURE

HYPERTENSION

No i meant why do nurses measure blood pressure. I'm doing an
assignment and needed to know why BP is measured by nurses. Your
answer was helpful though. Thank you.