Blood pressure readings taken from neuroscience intensive care unit (NSICU) patients had marked differences between opposite sides of the body and different anatomical sites in each individual, highlighting the significant and sometimes extreme variability of this measure even in the same person depending on where it’s taken, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center report in a new study.
Blood pressure readings taken from neuroscience intensive care unit (NSICU) patients had marked differences between opposite sides of the body and different anatomical sites in each individual, highlighting the significant and sometimes extreme variability of this measure even in the same person depending on where it’s taken, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center report in a new study.
The findings, published online Feb. 25, 2020, in Scientific Reports and the 100th research paper published by nurses at UTSW, could eventually impact how blood pressure information – which informs a variety of medical decisions in the NSICU and beyond – is collected.
Having an accurate blood pressure reading is essential to delivering often lifesaving care, say UT Southwestern study leaders Kathrina B. Siaron, B.S.N., R.N., a neurocritical care nurse, and DaiWai M. Olson, Ph.D., R.N., a professor of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics and Neurological Surgery.
“For our patients in the NSICU, blood pressure often needs to be maintained in a very narrow range,” Siaron says. “Moving it one way or another could potentially harm the patient.”
Read more at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Image: Neurocritical care nurse Kathrina Siaron, taking the blood pressure of a mock patient, helped lead a study that revealed such readings can vary when taken on different parts of the body. (Credit: UTSW)
