An inaccurate automated device negatively impacts the diagnosis and treatment of gestational hypertension.

Objectives: Automated blood pressure devices are frequently introduced in maternity care without prior validation for their accuracy in pregnancy. Our objectives were to, firstly, establish the accuracy in pregnancy of a locally used device (Welch Allyn 300) and, secondly, to audit its impact on the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension.

Study Design: Validation study: The device was evaluated using the grading criteria of the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol (ESH-IP) (2010).