Exploring the accuracy and precision of BP measurements

Abstract

July l Nursing2021 l 47 DAVID ORCEA/SHUTTERSTOCK HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS routinely assess and manage BP across patient populations and healthcare settings. 1 Elevated BP can lead to complications such as myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, and renal disease. Hypertension often goes unnoticed until a patient experiences a major medical crisis. Healthcare professionals can help patients with hypertension with patient education and interventions to prevent future complications. 2 Reliable BP monitoring is essential for managing hypertension. This article discusses the literature related to accuracy and precision in BP measurements and explores current practices in clinical settings. Background Accurate and precise BP measurements are crucial to clinical decisionmaking and interventions to prevent complications of hypertension. As such, interobserver variability, or variability in these measurements

The Presence of Blood in a Strain Gauge Pressure Transducer Has a Clinical Effect on the Accuracy of Intracranial Pressure Readings

“…Because treatment is often prescribed at a specific threshold (e.g., > 22 mm Hg), even a 1 mm Hg change in pressure could mean a difference in maintaining monitoring or employing medical intervention (20). The degree to which the ICP value displayed reflect the true ICP is accuracy; precision is how close multiple measures are to each other (21). The lack of accuracy in ICP monitoring highlights the need to comprehensively explore each of the individual components that may contribute to systematic errors in reporting ICP values to best inform patient care.…”