Final answer:
When using an aneroid sphygmomanometer, a medical assistant should tightly wrap the cuff, stop blood flow by inflating the cuff, and listen for Korotkoff sounds to determine systolic and diastolic pressures.
Step-by-step explanation:
When measuring a patient's blood pressure with an aneroid sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope, a medical assistant should perform the following actions:
- Wrap the inflatable cuff tightly around the patient's arm at the level of the heart.
- Squeeze the rubber pump to inject air into the cuff, raising the pressure around the artery, thus temporarily stopping blood flow into the patient's arm.
- Place the stethoscope on the patient's antecubital region.
- Inflate the cuff until the blood flow ceases, which would be above the patient's estimated systolic pressure.
- Begin gradually deflating the cuff, listening for Korotkoff sounds.
- Identify the first appearance of sound as the systolic pressure.
- Continue to listen as the cuff deflates and note the point at which the sound disappears, marking the diastolic pressure.
Therefore, the correct actions the assistant should take are to inflate the cuff until the blood flow stops (Option 3) and listen for the first sound when deflating the cuff which indicates the systolic blood pressure (Option 4).