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Blood Pressure Vs. Pulse

The difference between blood pressure and pulse is how they are determined in value, how they are used and what they are used for. A pulse is the number of beats per minute your heart pumps blood. Blood pressure is the force of the contraction and relaxation of the heart.

  1. Hearing the Apical Pulse

    • The heart pumps blood and, heard with a stethoscope, is the sound of the heart beating inside the chest with a "lub-dub" sound. Hearing a pulse over the chest is hearing it over the apex, hence the name of the pulse when listening to the heart is the apical pulse.

    Radial Pulse

    • When the medical assistant, CAN or nurse palpates your wrist to feel a pulse, he or she is looking for your radial pulse. This is a common site for taking a pulse. It is not universal because some medical conditions require health care workers to choose another part of the body where there is an artery and where the pulse can be found.

    Other Pulse Sites

    • The other parts of the body where a pulse can be found are at the temple on the side of your head and on the side of your neck. These are the temporal pulse and the carotid pulse, respectively.

      Nursing assistants also use the brachial artery found on the arm, the femoral artery found on the inside of each upper leg, the popliteal artery in back of the knee and the dorsalis pedis which can found on the top of each foot.

    Blood Pressure & Systolic

    • Blood pressure doesn't count how many beats per minute. Blood pressure needs to use a cuff, properly named a sphygmomanometer, to squeeze the arm at the site of the brachial artery. At the same time the cuff is squeezing the arm and cutting off arterial circulation, the stethoscope catches the first sound of the pumping blood rushing back into the artery as the cuff is slowly deflated. When the first sound is heard, the CNA, CMA, RN or doctor looks at the dial on the blood pressure cuff and records the number. This number is called the systolic number or the top number on the blood pressure fraction.

    Blood Pressure & Diastolic

    • As the healthcare worker releases the pressure from the cuff, she hears the pumping beat of the blood rushing back into the artery. She will then record the number on the dial where the last thump of the pumping blood was heard. This number is called the diastolic number or the bottom number on the blood pressure fraction.

    Importance

    • The difference between pulse and blood pressure is that pulse is used to determine the speed of the heart, and blood pressure is used to determine the strength of the heart at work and at rest. Both vital signs are important to determine the strength and health of your circulatory system or any problems that arise from interpreting the numbers.

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