Taking a blood pressure right is more complicated than it might seem, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Vital signs like blood pressure may be measured by a number of clinicians during a medical visit, and all of them need to be trained and recertified periodically. That’s according to Tammy Brady, a cardiovascular health promotion expert at Johns Hopkins and author of a study finding that arm position is frequently overlooked during blood pressure measurement.

Brady: You need to be trained in blood pressure measurement and then you need to undergo periodic recertification to make sure that you maintain your skills. I think that that's something that's frequently overlooked and there have been studies to show that the longer you go from when you were trained to measure blood pressure the more amount of error is introduced into the measurement that you take, and then you get retrained you're able to recalibrate and then have more accurate blood pressures. Sometimes those who are in charge of measuring blood pressure may not fully appreciate that getting a good blood pressure is more than just putting on the cuff and pushing a button.   :33

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.