CH 13: Vital Signs and Monitoring Devices Flashcards
What are the three ways to take blood pressure?
Palpation, auscultation, and blood pressure monitor
In a blood pressure reading of 120/80, what body process does the 120 measure?
Systolic blood pressure; when the left ventricle contracts and the blood is forced into the arteries
You are unable to find a radial pulse on a patient from a motor vehicle crash. You should:
attempt to find the carotid pulse.
You have a 38-year-old patient who has fainted. Following your local protocol, you use a pulse oximeter to determine the SpO2. You attach the device to the patient’s finger; it gives you a reading of 91 percent. What does that reading indicate?
Mild hypoxia
Where do baseline vital signs fit into the sequence of patient assessment?
At secondary assessment
You respond to a 30-month-old patient who has passed out. Is the patient’s blood pressure important to your treatment? Why?
No, blood pressure is difficult to obtain in children younger than age 3 and has little impact on the patient’s field management.
You are about to apply a blood pressure cuff to an unconscious patient when you notice that she appears to have a tube underneath the skin of her arm. The tube feels like it has fluid going through it. You should:
find another site to measure her blood pressure.
What is the pressure remaining in the arteries after the pulse wave has passed through?
Diastolic blood pressure
Upon assessment of your patient, you notice that he has cool, sweaty skin. This finding is best described as which of the following?
Vital sign
You are called to a 72-year-old patient with weakness and headache and an initial blood pressure of 140/92. Her repeat blood pressure at 5 minutes is unchanged. Her condition is called:
Hypertension
You are assessing a 48-year-old male who is unconscious. The scene is safe and you hear the patient gurgling. What is your next action?
Suction the airway.
Your patient is in late stages of liver failure and has requested to be transported to the emergency department. You notice his skin is warm and dry with a yellow color. Your radio report to the hospital should state your patient is:
jaundiced.
If capillary refill is assessed in a child patient, how long should it take the normal pink color to return to the nail bed?
2 seconds
The abbreviation mmHg indicates that the blood pressure is measured by which of the following comparisons?
Millimeters of mercury
You are transporting a patient down a bumpy road. Your patient’s blood pressure has just been measured by the monitor at 190/110. The patient’s blood pressure on scene was 130/80. You should:
re-measure the blood pressure manually.
Recording and documenting your patient’s first set of vital signs is very important because, when combined with reassessments, it allows you to do which of the following?
Discover trends and changes in the patient’s condition.
Slight movement of the chest during respiration is usually indicative of which of the following?
Shallow breathing
Vital signs should be reassessed at least every ________ minutes for a stable patient.
15 minutes
A patient with a pulse rate of 120 beats per minute is considered which of the following?
Tachycardic
Question content area top
Part 1
You respond to a childcare center for a report of an injured 4-year-old. Her pulse is 130 beats per minute. Which of the following best describes this finding?
Tachycardic
Your patient is warm, dry, pink, and denies shortness of breath. Which of the following should the EMT expect to find when evaluating the patient’s oxygen saturation?
98 percent
How often should a patient’s vital signs be reassessed during transport to the hospital after the pulse has been restored with CPR and the use of an AED?
Every 5 minutes
You respond to a cafeteria to find an unconscious person with gurgling sounds upon exhalation and inhalation. What is the probable cause of the respiratory sounds?
Fluids in the airway
Question content area top
Part 1
Breathing sounds that should concern the EMT are:
snoring, gurgling, and wheezing, crowing,
What color is the patient’s skin if it is described as being cyanotic?
Blue-gray
An increase in the work of breathing is reported as:
labored breathing
When the heart contracts and forces blood into the arteries, the pressure created is known as the:
systolic blood pressure.
The normal range for blood glucose is between 70 mg/dL and:
100 mg/dL
When the EMT checks the pupils, he or she is checking for what three things?
Size, equality, and reactivity
An approximate normal systolic blood pressure can be calculated for infants and children by using which of the following formulas?
80 plus 2 times the age in years
The first set of vital sign measurements obtained are often referred to as
baseline vital signs
You are transporting a patient to the hospital from a motor vehicle crash. Your patient’s initial blood pressure was 88/52. You should reassess blood pressure:
at least every 5 minutes.
You are assessing a 55-year-old male complaining of chest pain and have determined that his radial pulse is barely palpable. You also determine that there were 20 pulsations over a span of 30 seconds. Based on this, how would you report this patient’s pulse?
Pulse 40 and weak
You are assessing an 82-year-old female who has been lost in the woods behind her nursing home for several hours on a crisp fall evening. Your pulse oximeter shows her oxygen saturation to be 82 percent even though she appears to be breathing adequately. In order to ensure an accurate reading, you should:
warm the patient’s hands and try again.
When taking blood pressure manually, the cuff should be inflated to what point?
30 mmHg beyond the point where the pulse disappears
You are called to care for a child who has fallen out of a third-story window. You arrive to find the child in his mother’s arms. As you approach, you notice the child’s skin is pale with dark spots of cyanosis. You would report this uncommon condition of blotchy skin as:
mottling
Which of the following is a normal respiratory rate for an adult at rest?
12 to 20 breaths per minute
Which of the following are vital signs that need to be recorded for virtually every EMS patient?
Pulse; respiration; skin color, temperature, and condition; pupils; and blood pressure
What category would include a patient with a blood pressure of 134/84 mmHg?
Prehypertension
Which of the following best describes the proper placement of the blood pressure cuff?
Covering two-thirds of the upper arm
