Rationale: Using a blood pressure cuff that is too loose would cause the blood pressure to be inaccurately high. Using a blood pressure cuff that is too wide would cause the blood pressure to be inaccurately low. Taking the blood pressure in an arm with intravenous fluids infusing would affect the infusion of fluids but would not necessarily cause a falsely low blood pressure reading. Placing the arm above heart level would cause the blood pressure to be inaccurately low. Placing the arm above heart level causes a falsely low reading of about 2 mm Hg for each inch above heart level.
