Heart Measurements

• The two most common tests of heart function are auscultation and blood pressure measurement
• Auscultation

  listening to the internal sounds of the body using a stethoscope
• Auscultation is commonly used to listen to the different heart sounds in order to assess the health of the heart
• By placing the stethoscope at different points on the chest, the closure of each of the four heart valves can be heard
• Blood pressure measurements include two readings – a systolic pressure and a diastolic pressure
• Systolic pressure

  a higher value that represents the pressure in the vessel when the heart is contracting (pulse flow)
• Diastolic pressure

  a lower value that represents the pressure in the vessel when the heart is relaxing
• Blood pressure is measured in arteries using a sphygmomanometer 
• Why are veins not used to measure blood pressure?

  veins do not have sufficient pressure to be easily detected