OMRON’s home blood-pressure/EKG monitor elevates “healthcare as self-care”

5 min readApr 30, 2020

OMRON’s “Complete”, a dual blood-pressure and EKG monitor for your home — or even on the road.

As an instructor of Emerging Technologies at Rutgers University School of Business Executive Education Programs and a “Top 100 Health Tech Influencer”, having served for several years on the board of directors of a major university hospital, I am often asked to collaborate with brands to review healthcare-related products and services. Though I have agreed to a paid collaboration with OMRON, the thoughts here are my own and may not reflect those of OMRON.

For about two months now, I’ve been monitoring my blood pressure using OMRON’S Complete, a compact, lightweight, dual blood pressure and EKG monitor. It costs about $200.

Thankfully, I don’t have high blood pressure, but that’s something I wouldn't know without regular self-monitoring. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), America’s “oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke”, “nearly half of American adults have high blood pressure” and many aren’t aware they do.

High blood pressure is a “silent killer”

Graph credit: American Heart Association

Calling high blood pressure a “silent killer”, the AHA warns that “most of the time there are no obvious symptoms”.

The AHA cautions that high blood pressure can have a “domino effect on your health” — “leading to stroke, heart attack and heart failure”.

According to the CDC, heart disease remains “the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.”

How common is heart disease? The CDC notes that every year, about 805,000 Americans have a heart attack.

So how are you supposed to know if you have high blood pressure when you don’t symptoms? The AHA has an uncomplicated answer: “You can take control with a simple test. Check your blood pressure — before it checks you.”

The CDC adds that people with high blood pressure are “more likely to lower their blood pressure if they use” a home blood-pressure monitoring device than if they don’t use one.

Calling home blood-pressure monitoring devices, “easy and safe to use”, the CDC, like the AHA warns that: “Measuring your blood pressure is the only way to know whether you have high blood pressure. High blood pressure usually has no warning signs or symptoms, and many people do not know they have it.”

Find a time for blood pressure monitoring that fits your daily routine. It’s fast and easy!

OMRON’s Complete literally takes barely over a minute to complete an exam from the comfort of your home. You’re welcome to check out a video I shot from my kitchen of me giving myself an exam. Don’t worry, the video, like the exam itself, is just about a minute long. (One minute and fourteen seconds, to be precise!)

What are the benefits of using Complete?

First and foremost, Complete ™ empowers you to monitor your own blood pressure in the comfort and convenience of your home, quickly, easily, privately, and accurately. For me, those are pretty compelling benefits.

Sitting on top of a tablet, OMRON’s complete is truly compact, weighing little more than a tablet.

“Healthcare self-care” is also a powerful healthy lifestyle motivator. As noted, the CDC observes that people with high blood pressure are more likely to lower their blood pressure if they use an at-home monitoring device. For me, the very act of monitoring my blood pressure — with a heightened awareness of the importance of doing so, has led me to reflect on my lifestyle and commit to a healthier one.

OMRON encourages its customers to take a pledge for a healthier lifestyle, “Going for Zero” heart attacks and strokes

OMRON asks its customers to take some specific heart-health steps to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke:

Exercise: “Just be a little more active.”
Eat smart: Lower-fat, lower-sodium.
Kick bad habits: Moderation.
Stifle your stress: “Relax by doing things you enjoy (yoga, gardening, reading, sleeping eight hours, etc.) and your heart will benefit.”
Monitor your blood pressure regularly. No surprise here!

For me, OMRON’s “Going For Zero” pledge has meant:

Creating a daily exercise routine. Nothing heroic, but I’ve chosen a few exercises to do each day and I’m already feeling better about myself!
Eating smarter has meant eating less. I love food, so, for me, the most obvious choice of “eating smarter” was to eat a bit less. My scale tells me it’s working!
Kick bad habits. See my last point!
Stifling stress. It’s important to understand that giving yourself some time for positive things you enjoy can reduce your stress. I’m giving myself a bit more time to do some non-scrolling reading, as in book reading! And balcony gardening. Both are helping in reducing stress.
Monitoring my blood pressure regularly. Covered!

Hopefully, you’ll join OMRON’s pledge of “Going for Zero” heart attacks and strokes!

Who is OMRON Healthcare?

OMRON Healthcare, Inc., the maker of the dual blood pressure monitor and EKG device “is the global category leader in personal heart health and wellness technology, with a heritage of over 40 years. OMRON is the #1 doctor and pharmacist recommended home blood pressure monitor brand on the market, and the brand is known for its clinically validated accuracy.”

OMRON’s Complete ™ is “the first blood pressure monitor with EKG capability in a single device for home use.” Importantly, OMRON’s Complete has received FDA clearance for this innovation. The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is the US’ leading governmental agency “responsible for protecting the public health by ensuring the safety, efficacy, and security of…medical devices”.