[ANSWER]NUR342 Assessment 2 Discussion Post: Reply Post: Reply to Paula Church’s post “Are Automatic Blood Pressure Machines Putting Patients’ Lives at Risk?”

TASK DESCRIPTION

Reply to Paula Church’s post “Are automatic blood pressure monitors putting patients’ lives at risk?”

This is a well articulated post, Paula. As per the requirements of the task, you have clearly identified the clinical problem – the risks posed by automatic blood pressure monitors to patients – and the rationale for your choice of this problem. You have also clearly identified a research question based on the PICo qualitative framework and identified two scholarly articles with useful information on your topic.

Of the posts I have come across in the discussion board thus far, I find yours particularly intriguing and distinctive. It raises a critical issue that does not immediately come to mind when the phrase “patient safety” is mentioned. In discussions or discourses relating to this phrase, the common topics one is likely to come across are healthcare-acquired infections, medical errors, falls, prolonged wait times, and so forth. You have highlighted an issue that is often ignored in patient safety discourses, yet very important. I am aware of automatic blood pressure monitors, but I must admit I had not thought of them from the perspective of patient safety.

I chose to reply to your post not just for the sake of fulfilling the requirements of this task, but also to learn more about your topic as I have little, if any, knowledge on it. Initially, I was somewhat doubtful whether automatic blood pressure monitors are really an issue of patient safety concern. So I did a quick literature search to ascertain just how much of a problem to patient safety are automatic blood pressure monitors.

As you have explained in your post, I actually found three recently published scholarly articles showing that automatic blood pressure monitors provide inaccurate readings compared to manual ones (Mirdamadi & Etebari, 2017; Ruzicka et al., 2016; Stergiou et al., 2017). Considering these articles, together with the ones you used in your post, it seems there is a fair amount of empirical evidence demonstrating the inaccuracy of automated blood pressured monitors.

As I was reading your post as well as the aforementioned articles, a fundamental question came to mind: if there is empirical evidence showing that automatic blood pressure monitors are not always accurate, why does there seem to be little or no integration of this evidence into practice? As you have rightly stated, there is need for caution and clear guidelines when it comes to the use of these monitors. I feel it might be necessary to confirm the readings of an automatic blood pressure with a manual one, especially when the readings appear out of the norm.

With self-management increasingly being an integral aspect of chronic disease management, the use of automatic blood pressure monitors by patients at home is on the rise. This makes it necessary to pay greater attention to the accuracy of these monitors. Blood pressure is a vital sign monitored in many chronic diseases and inaccurate readings could compromise patient safety.

For example, if readings indicate that a patient’s blood pressure is high when it is actually not, unnecessary medication could be administered to the patient. Similarly, if readings show that a patient’s blood pressure is normal when it is actually low or high, the necessary interventions to normalise it may not be undertaken. These are just a few of the risks patients face due to inaccurate blood pressure readings.

I commend you for highlighting a critical, yet often ignored patient safety issue, Paula.

References

Mirdamadi, A., & Etebari, M. (2016). Comparison of manual versus automated blood pressure measurement in intensive care unit, coronary care unit, and emergency room. ARYA Atherosclerosis, 13(1), 29-34.

Ruzicka, M., Akhbari, A., Bruketa, E., Kayibanda, J., Baril, C., & Hiremath, S. (2016). How accurate are home blood pressure devices in use? A cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE, 11(6), e0155677. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0155677

Stergiou, G., Boubouchairopoulou, N., & Kollias, A. (2017). Accuracy of automated blood pressure measurement in children: Evidence, issues, and perspectives. Hypertension, 69, 1000-1006. doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.116.08553 

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