The call to action on standardising clinic BP measurement says that to prepare the patient, there should be a rest period of 3 to 5 minutes before taking a BP reading to reduce the impact of factors that could aggravate a reading. “However, clinical judgment should be exercised on the individual circumstance to determine whether this duration of rest is sufficient to achieve the goal.”⁸

The BP should be taken with the cuff around the bare arm. While a thin layer of clothing material may be acceptable, it is not ideal as the effect of the clothing thickness will have an unquantifiable effect on different patients. At least two BP readings should be taken, with the readings averaged, without necessarily discarding any particular reading.

There is no recommendation on the importance of whether the measurement should be done without the health professional in the room if an automated machine is available. If a machine can do repeat measurements automatically, it could reduce the distraction factor before and during measurements.

It may be appropriate to repeat the BP measurements at a later point in the consultation if the patient was not adequately prepared, for example if they had consumed caffeine just before the appointment.