How to Figure the Mean of a Blood Pressure Reading
One of the vital signs routinely taken on every visit to a physician is
blood pressure. This is an indicator of how hard the heart is working to
get blood to all of the body and how much resistance arteries and veins
are placing on the flow of blood. If the heart is working too hard or
the blood vessels are narrowed because of cholesterol deposits, blood
pressure is affected. The mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) is a
measure of the average blood pressure of an individual and used as a
standardized way to diagnose or treat high blood pressure
(hypertension).
Things You'll Need
Blood pressure cuff
Stethoscope
Paper pad
Pen or pencil
Calculator
Instructions:
Reading the Blood Pressure
1.Place the blood pressure cuff over the patient's arm,
inflating it slightly to keep it in place right above the elbow. Have
the patient be still for the remainder of the procedure.
2. Place the stethoscope over the crease of the elbow and
listen for the beating sounds of the brachial or radial arteries, which
run through the crease of the elbow.
3. Inflate the cuff to the point where you no longer hear the artery beating.
4. Release the air from the cuff steadily, writing down the
pressure readings from the pressure dial on the cuff when you begin to
hear the artery beating again. That is the systolic blood pressure
reading in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Then write down the reading
from the pressure dial when you stop hearing it as a result of no
pressure being placed on the artery. This is your diastolic reading.
Calculate Mean Arterial Blood Pressure
5.Make sure the patient was at rest throughout the blood
pressure reading. Any increases in pulse due to activity or exercise
negate the mean arterial blood pressure reading.
6. Subtract the diastolic reading from the systolic reading. This is product A.
7. Multiply product A by 0.33. This is product B.
8. Add the diastolic reading to product B. This is the mean arterial blood pressure reading.
Tips
The formula for
mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) is: MAP= Diastolic + 0.33(Systolic -
Diastolic). This is only an approximation to MAP in a patient at rest.
For a more precise reading, the patient might need to visit a cardiac
laboratory or a cardiologist's office for measurements with more
complicated instruments.
Warnings
Never
self-diagnose and treat hypertension. Only a licensed health care
provider should diagnose and treat you for hypertension or any other
condition. If you find your blood pressure to be elevated, or are
worried about having high blood pressure, consult your health care
provider. There are plenty of treatments and lifestyle changes that he
or she can offer to effectively treat or prevent hypertension.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Tips to Helping Your Sixth Grader Find the Mode, Median, and Mean in Their Math Homework
In the sixth grade, determining the mode,
median and mean in a number series isn't always a simple task. Read on
to learn about how you can help your child better understand what these
mathematical terms mean and how to solve problems that include them.
Helping Your Child with Modes, Medians and Means
What Sixth Graders Learn
The mode, median, and mean of any number series are three common ways
to analyze numerical data, and they frequently show up on the SATs and
other standardized tests. These may seem like simple math skills, but it
can be easy to mix up the terms. Talk to your child's math teacher for
more information about sixth grade math concepts and consider getting
familiar with the Common Core State Standards to track how well your
child is doing.
Teaching about Modes
Teach your child that the mode of a number series is the
number that appears most often. For instance, in the following number
range, the mode is 2: 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 9. To help your child
remember the term 'mode', think of the word 'most'. Mode is useful when
looking at a list of numbers that contains many repeating values.
First, give your child a list of numbers that are out of order, like
this: 4, 5, 3, 9, 9, 7, 6, 7, 9. Then, ask him or her to put the numbers
in order. After the numbers are in order, your child will be able to
see which numbers occur more than one time. In our example above, the
number list would look like this: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 9, 9. Your child
should then be able to identify that the mode is 9.
Teaching about Medians and Means
The median can be remembered by your child as being the middle
number. In other words, it is the number that's in the exact middle of a
number range. In the previous number range example, the median is 7.
If there are two numbers in the middle, which happens when you have
an even amount of numbers listed in a series, the median will be halfway
between those numbers. The median can found by adding those two middle
numbers together and then dividing the answer by two. Your child will
most likely get a number with a decimal. For example, in a list that has
5 and 6 at equal distances from either end, the median would be 5.5.
Show your sixth grader that the mean is the average of all the
numbers in a list. To find this, your child must first add all the
numbers in the series. Then, have your child divide the answer by the
number of items in the list, and the result will be the mean. Here's an
example:
