• DocumentCode
    35757
  • Title

    What does a perfect blood pressure meter look like from a clinician point of view?

  • Author

    Ando, Shin-ichi

  • Author_Institution
    Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka, Japan
  • Volume
    17
  • Issue
    3
  • fYear
    2014
  • fDate
    Jun-14
  • Firstpage
    15
  • Lastpage
    20
  • Abstract
    In our usual busy cardiology clinic, we always measure the blood pressure (BP) of our patients hundreds of times each week. At this moment, many physicians are still using a mercury sphygmomanometer in outpatient and inpatient clinics, and our hands lose gripping power by evening (Fig. 1). On the other hand, for a patient who comes to my office complaining of high BP for the first time, I always ask them to measure their BP at home or to wear an ambulatory BP monitoring device to obtain as exact and precise BP data as possible. However, such patients sometimes complain about the cumbersomeness or discomfort of frequent home BP measurements. Thus, I feel that the way of measuring BP (to pressurize a cuff manually or mechanically, to release it, and to read the value of BP) has not changed drastically for a long time even under this digital and computerized world. In this article, I give an overview of some problems faced in measuring BP, and propose an ideal BP measurement machine or mechanism for a clinician to measure BP as efficiently and comfortably as possible.
  • Keywords
    biomedical equipment; blood pressure measurement; cardiology; patient monitoring; BP measurement machine; ambulatory BP monitoring device; blood pressure measurement; cardiology clinics; hand lose gripping power; home BP measurements; inpatient clinics; mercury sphygmomanometer; outpatient clinics; pressure meter; Blood pressure; Hypertension; Medical services; Mercury (metals); Position measurement; Sleep apnea; Time measurement;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    1094-6969
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/MIM.2014.6825383
  • Filename
    6825383