PP.17.06

Abstract

Objective: Hypertension is one of the most frequent conditions treated in primary practice, and accounts for 51% of stroke deaths and 45% of ischemic heart disease deaths. Accurate measurement of blood pressure (BP) is reliant on both the devices that are used and best practice procedures. Increasingly busy clinical environments may lead to procedures for accurately measuring BP being overlooked or ignored, a problem identified across health services nationally and internationally. There is also reliance that the devices that we are using are accurate. Therefore current practices for measuring BP and accuracy of equipment were determined across a tertiary health service. Design and method: There were 23 hospital wards audited to identify types of monitors in use and their accuracy was validated according to AS EN 1060.2-2002 for pressure scale accuracy. Skills knowledge was assessed for 74 Medical students (33 first year and 41 second year) and 166 clinical staff. Results: We validated 107 monitors and found 14/56 (39%) digital monitors and 14/51 (25%) aneroid tested had unacceptable errors (> 3 mmHg), which was comparable with other health services (1). Only 17% of clinical staff had annual in-service training for measurement of BP and only 50% of medical students (Stage 1 and 2) retained their BP measurement skills. Conclusions: The results of this study identified the need for providing professional staff a training program that is accessible and available for self-directed learning as well as understanding the advantages and limitations of the various devices used for BP measurement. An e-learning module “Standardising Skills for Accurate Blood Pressure Measurement” was developed and has now been implemented into the Medical and Nursing curriculum as well as across health services and primary care practices. Data generated from the surveys within the module is currently being analysed.