Unit 15
Effects of High Blood Pressure
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is called the silent killer for a reason. Most people have no symptoms. Luckily in the LTC community taking V/S including B/P is common, so as long as the C.N.A is skilled and taking correct V/S a resident with HTN should be diagnosed and treated. Hypertension (HTN) is the #1 cause of myocardial infarction (MI), otherwise known as a heart attack and CVA (stroke) but renal failure (kidney) and loss of vision and several other problems accompany HTN if it is not controlled well. Nose bleeds, H/A (headache), blurry vision, and chest pain are signs that a resident might be having problems with their blood pressure. If you see these symptoms take the resident's B/P (blood pressure) and see if it might be elevated and report to the nurse.
