Effect of automatic blood pressure devices on vigilance of anesthesia residents.

The response time of anesthesia residents to interruption in auditory blood pressure monitoring was compared between two anesthesia training programs that have different blood pressure monitoring traditions. Program A relies exclusively on manual blood pressure cuffs, whereas program B uses automated blood pressure devices for approximately 90% of patients. In this limited, short-term study, the time that lapsed between interruption of auditory monitoring and recognition of the interruption was less in the program that used manual blood pressure cuffs. The impact of the automated blood pressure device on resident vigilance in anesthesia training programs may be negative.