1. Have the person sit in a comfortable position with their arm resting at heart level. Make sure they are relaxed and not talking during the reading.
2. Wrap the blood pressure cuff around the upper arm, about an inch above the elbow. The cuff should be snug but not too tight.
3. Place the stethoscope earpieces in your ears and place the diaphragm or bell of the stethoscope over the brachial artery on the inside of the elbow.
4. Inflate the cuff by squeezing the bulb until the dial on the sphygmomanometer (the device with the pressure gauge) reads about 30 points higher than the person's expected systolic pressure.
5. Slowly release the air from the cuff by turning the release valve counterclockwise. Listen for the first sound, which is the systolic pressure.
6. Continue to deflate the cuff and listen for the point where the sound stops or changes, which is the diastolic pressure.
7. Record the blood pressure reading as systolic pressure over diastolic pressure (e.g. 120/80).
