Medical Assistant Prep / Unit 13 MAS 323 review, 2 to 3 minutes
A Reading That Needed a Second Look
The idea
This case is constructed for this course. It shows how preparation and technique change a blood pressure reading, and how a medical assistant records and reports it without labeling the patient.
In practice
A large-framed man hurries in from the parking lot, coffee cup in hand, and sits on the exam table with his legs crossed. The first automated reading is one hundred fifty-eight over ninety-six. Before recording it as his blood pressure, the medical assistant checks her process. She asks whether there is any reason not to use his right arm, and there is none. She notices that the cuff barely closes around his upper arm, so she measures the arm and switches to the larger cuff its circumference calls for. She asks him to sit upright in a chair with both feet flat on the floor and legs uncrossed, and she places the cuff on bare skin, not over his sleeve. She asks him to rest quietly for five minutes, and she notes that he finished a coffee ten minutes ago. The repeat reading is one hundred forty-four over ninety. She records both readings, with the arm, the position, the cuff size and the recent caffeine, and she tells the provider. When the man asks whether he has high blood pressure, she explains that the provider will review the readings with him. She does not offer a label.
Where people slip
Both readings fall in a high category, so the provider still needs to hear about them. Fixing the cuff, the posture and the rest period did not erase a problem; it gave the provider an accurate number. The diagnosis depends on a pattern over several visits, and on the provider's judgment, never on a single reading taken in a rush.
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