Assessing Pharmacy Students’ Ability to Accurately Measure Blood Pressure Using a Blood Pressure Simulator Arm

• Published in: American journal of pharmaceutical education Vol. 77; no. 5; p. 98
• Main Authors: Bottenberg, Michelle M., Bryant, Ginelle A., Haack, Sally L., North, Andrew M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 12-06-2013; American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy; Elsevier Limited; American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
• Subjects: Accuracy; Analysis; assessment; Blood Pressure; Blood Pressure Determination - methods; Cardiovascular disease; Clinical Competence; Clinical medicine; Computer Simulation; Core curriculum; Cross-Over Studies; Curriculum; Drug stores; Education, Pharmacy - methods; Educational evaluation; Evaluation; Health education; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - physiopathology; Learning; Measurement; Medical education; Medical students; Mortality; Patients; Pharmaceutical Education; Pharmacists; Pharmacy; pharmacy students; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Reproducibility of Results; simulation; Single-Blind Method; Students; Students, Pharmacy; Studies; Task Performance and Analysis; Teaching - methods; Training; assessment; blood pressure; hypertension; simulation; pharmacy students
• ISSN: 0002-9459; 1553-6467
• DOI: 10.5688/ajpe77598

Objective. To compare student accuracy in measuring normal and high blood pressures using a simulator arm.
Methods. In this prospective, single-blind, study involving third-year pharmacy students, simulator arms were programmed with prespecified normal and high blood pressures. Students measured preset normal and high diastolic and systolic blood pressure using a crossover design.
Results. One hundred sixteen students completed both blood pressure measurements. There was a significant difference between the accuracy of high systolic blood pressure (HSBP) measurement and normal systolic blood pressure (NSBP) measurement (mean HSBP difference 8.4±10.9 mmHg vs NSBP 3.6±6.4 mmHg; p<0.001). However, there was no difference between the accuracy of high diastolic blood pressure (HDBP) measurement and normal diastolic blood pressure (NDBP) measurement (mean HDBP difference 6.8±9.6 mmHg vs. mean NDBP difference 4.6±4.5 mmHg; p=0.089).
Conclusions. Pharmacy students may need additional instruction and experience with taking high blood pressure measurements to ensure they are able to accurately assess this important vital sign.