Blood Pressure Monitoring – getting it right?

Frank Kirrane is Head of Clinical Engineering at the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering, Galway University Hospital.  He has been working in the Clinical Engineering space for over 25 years, with a special interest in Clinical Information Systems. He has published and presented varied research work in areas such as, clinical engineering safety, CIS maturity models, e-learning, and healthcare innovation.  He has competed his post graduate studies in Physical Sciences Medicine (TCD), Technology Management (UoG), and more recently Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety (UoG).  He is a Lecturer and Supervisor for the MSc Medical Physics, and Honorary Clinical Fellow at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, at the University of Galway.

Abstract

There is growing concern about the accuracy of automated Blood Pressure measuring devices, and not just the growing market of consumer facing products, but also devices used in healthcare facilities. Hypertension societies and international organisations are campaigning for call-to-action to ensure that only BP devices validated for accuracy, using agreed international protocols, are used to measure blood pressure.

Clinical Engineers are important stakeholders in this effort. This article reviews the prevailing published literature, and sets out the rational on why these concerns exist, and the role clinical engineer can have to mitigate the risks to patients. This review will also draw attention to a particular patient cohort, pregnant women, which are not well served by the BP device market, and where assurance on the accuracy of BP measurement is lacking.