Where Should Automated Blood Pressures be Done in Primary Care Offices?

The use of automated blood pressure measurement (ABPM) devices in the office setting is increasingly recognized as superior to manual BP measurement. Current guidelines recommend that patients be alone in a quiet room, with no interactions with health care professionals during the readings; in practice, this means using an exam room. However, we found no evidence supporting the location of ABPM. Furthermore, exam rooms are constantly being used in primary care offices, so this may not be practical in routine care. For this study, fifty consecutive consenting patients age 18 or more in each of seven community based primary care offices will randomly be allocated to either ABPM in an exam room, or in a non-private area of the clinic. After being tested in the first location they will then be tested in the second location with the same device. The main outcome will be the mean value of the last five systolic blood pressures for each location within offices. Secondary measures will include blood pressures for patients with or without hypertension, a comparison of the initial and second set of blood pressures and of the effect of office noise in decibels on BP readings. New technology is more readily adopted if barriers to use are minimized. If we find no differences in BP readings between office locations, clinicians will then have the option to use an additional office area to implement the automated BP measurement device.