Vital Signs Measurements of the body’s most basic functions 3 main vital signs routinely monitored by healthcare providers are:  Temperature  pulse rate  respiration rate  blood pressure

Temperature Can be measured by 4 basic routes:  Oral  Rectal  Axillary  Tympanic

Temperature Several types of thermometers  Electronic/Digital  Glass  Thermoscan (for tympanic measurement)

Temperature Normal temperature ranges  Oral: 97.6F – 99.6 F Axillary  96.6F – 98.6 F  One degree lower than oral Rectal  98.6F – F  One degree higher than oral Tympanic  Same as rectal

Temperature Reading Temperatures  By degree and tenth of a degree  Place at eye level and look for silver line of mercury  Never place fingers on bulb of thermometer Thermometers & Routes  Probes for electronic & mercury-free ends are color coded for route  Red = rectal  Blue = oral/axillary

Temperature Do not take oral temperatures on:  Preschool children  Patients with oxygen  Delirious, confused, disoriented patients  Comatose patients  Patients with nasogastric tubes  Patients with recent oral surgery  Patients who are vomiting/nauseated Do not take rectal temperatures on:  Infants or children  Patients who’ve had rectal surgery  Combative patients

Temperature Duration  Tympanic: a few seconds  Oral/Rectal (glass thermometer): 3 minutes  Axillary (glass): 10 minutes  Electronic temperatures: wait for “beep” to sound

Temperature Fever, febrile, hyperthermia all indicate someone who has an elevated temperature (over 100F) High fever would include anything over 103F Moderate fever between F Hypothermia: under 96F

Pulse Wave of blood produced by beating of heart and traveling along the artery Can feel at points where the artery is between finger tips and a bony area  Called pulse points

Pulse Points Temporal Carotid Apical Brachial Radial Femoral Popliteal Dorsal pedalis

Pulse Measured by index, middle and ring fingers over pulse point  Don’t use thumb, it has it’s own pulse Count for 30 sec., multiply by 2. Normal is bpm Tachycardia =  than 100 Bradycardia =  than 60

Pulse Perfusion: the flow of blood throughout the body Someone with sufficient perfusion has a strong enough heart beat to adequately oxygenate the body Affected by: body temperature, emotions, activity, health

Respiration Each breath includes inspiration and expiration Measured by observing chest rise and fall, in breaths per minute Normal = bpm Tachypnea =  than 24 Bradypnea=  than 12 Difficulty breathing is called dyspnea

Respiration Quality of breathing is determined  Depthy  Clarity of breath sounds  Pain with breathing  Difficulty breathing

Procedure for TPR's Insert thermometer and proceed to take pulse and repiration Take hold of wrist for pulse and respiration Keep hold of wrist during both pulse and respiration for a more accurate reading

Charting Chart in order of TPR Do not write T=, P=, R= Write