Assessment of practical skill in measuring blood pressure

Blood pressure is an important vital sign that reflects systemic and focal changes. Planning of treating most of the disease is based on the values obtained from this measurement. Regarding this, Knowledge about Blood pressure measurement procedure is important. The aim of this study was to determine the practical skill in measuring of blood pressure in undergraduate nursing students. This is an analytic-descriptive study of 350 first years to fourth year undergraduate nursing students who had studied in educational year 2012-2013 of Tehran University of Medical Sciences and samplized by census methods. Data collection was done through investigator-made questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using SPSS software (V: 21), using descriptive and analytical Statistics; at the significant level P<0.05. Findings showed the overall mean score of the students's knowledge in Blood pressure measurement was13/77±2/86. First year students's level of knowledge in Blood pressure measurement was higher than the other years, however the differences wasn's t statistically significant (P=0/93). These findings indicate that knowledge of participants was inadequate to perform blood pressure measurement in a standardized manner; therefore it is vital to have frequent, regular and up-to-date training for nurses in order to follow the new rules for measuring blood pressure.