I think the right arm is used exclusively so that we all collect blood pressure data from pregnant women in the same way.
The woman's BP recordings can then be scientifically compared with BP data collected from other pregnant women.
The initiative of gathering comparative data globally came from an international group of researchers looking at hypertension in pregnancy (all hypertension specialists) many years ago. I can't remember the name of the group - perhaps someone else on this list knows it?
The group recommended that professionals involved in maternity care should use the same assessment techniques globally to assist collection of reliable research data.
Australian midwives can be assured that if they record a pregnant woman's BP using the appropriate cuff applied to the right arm, with the woman sitting and feet supported, that the data they collect can be safely compared with that collected from an pregnant Inuit woman living in Alaska.
That's my understanding
Cheers
Jan
Jan Robinson Independent Midwife Practitioner
National Coordinator Australian Society of Independent Midwives
8 Robin Crescent South Hurstville NSW 2221 Phone/Fax: 02 9546 4350
e-mail address: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> website: www.midwiferyeducation.com.au
I'm keen to see anything on this too. I did a search on it a few weeks ago,
and discovered that in all people, the dominant arm tends to have a higher
BP. So I guess you take it on the right arm because most women are right
handed and you want the higher BP from a PE perspective? Also,
sitting/supine affects BP.
I did find these:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9219119&dopt=Abstract
http://www.greenjournal.org/cgi/content/abstract/55/3/285
which might help.
Please let me know if you find anything else.
Kate
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ceri & Katrina" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au>
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] MidResearch
On the topic of research, does anyone have any evidence on why we take
BP on the right arm antenatally?? And any other guidelines or evidence
on 'how' to take the BP???
thanks
Katrina
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