A survey on personnel awareness of the factors affecting accurate blood pressure measurement in the medical centres of Jahrom County

Abstract

Abstract Aims and objectives The main purpose of this study was to determine the clinical skill of the medical personnel on level of awareness of standard methods used during blood pressure measurement. Background Blood pressure measurement is one of the vital clinical proficiencies the hospital personnel must be equipped with. Results from different surveys highlight the importance of awareness amongst medical personnel in controlling blood pressure. Design Descriptive cross‐sectional study. Methods Using standardized questionnaires devised by the researcher, data were collected from 302 participants working in healthcare centres in Jahrom. The extracted data were analysed using SPSS. Results Observations showed that 10–20% of the participants had wide knowledge of influential factors affecting blood pressure measurement. Moreover, there was a meaningful relation between holding higher degrees and accurate blood pressure measurement (p < .05). Nevertheless, besides the personnel holding lower degrees, those holding higher educational degrees also had dearth of knowledge of factors affecting blood pressure measurement. Conclusions The overall findings of this study indicate that the knowledge among the hospital personnel in determining factors affecting blood pressure measurement was inadequate.

Keywords

• assessment
• awareness
• blood pressure
• clinical skill
• environmental exposure
• nursing