Vital Signs Flashcards
What factors can affect pulse rates?
Exercise, disease, drugs, body temperature, posture, stress and age (young children have a higher pulse rate).
What is the normal oxygen saturation for adults?
95% and 100%
What is the normal pulse rate for adults?
60-100 beats per minute
What is the quality for pulse rate?
Is it fast or slow?
Is it regular or irregular?
Is it weak, thready, bounding or strong?
What does it mean if your pulse is weak?
Faint and harder to detect. It suggests that the blood flow through the arteries is reduced. This can indicate low blood pressure, dehydration, heart failure.
What does it mean if your pulse is bounding?
A bounding pulse is strong and forceful. This indicates that the heart is pumping blood with greater force which can increase the pressure in the arteries. The increased pressure can cause the artieries to expand which may result in damage of the arterial walls e.g hypertension.
What is the rationale of taking someone’s pulse?
Tachycardia: fast heart rate, symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath.
Bradycardia: slow heart rate, symptoms include weak and dizziness.
Heart rate is the number of times the heart beats per minute, and it shows how fast the heart is pumping blood. Pulse waves are pressure waves created each time the heart contracts, pushing blood through the arteries. This blood carries oxygens and nutrients to the body’s organs and tissues. The pulse waves gives information about the strength and rhythm of the heart’s contractions.
Documentation example of PR
HR: 68 bpm, regular
What is the normal respiratory rate for adults?
12-20 breaths per minute
What is the quality of respiratory rate?
Is it regular or irregular?
Is it deep or shallow?
What is the rationale for taking someone’s respiratory rate?
Tachypnea: fast breathing rate. That results from a lack of oxygen or too much carbon dioxide in the body.
Bradypnea: slow breathing rate. That results from a lack of oxygen or too much carbon dioxide.
The main function of the respiratory system is to supply oxygen to the body’ for energy production (ATP) and to remove carbon dioxide.
What is the brains respiratory centre?
In the brain stem (medulla and pons)
What is the importance of carbon dioxide outflow?
This is important because if we couldn’t remove carbon dioxide from our blood, it would take up all the carrying capacity of our blood and we wouldn’t be able to get oxygen to the rest of our body.
To keep our PH in a healthy range: if there’s too much carbon dioxide it can lower the blood’s pH, making it more acidic which can affect how cells work, disrupt energy production.
How does a low blood pH (too much acid) disrupt cells?
Enzymes, which are needed for chemical reactions in the body (respiration: oxygen inflow, nutrients, energy, carbon dioxide outflow) work best within a certain pH range. If the pH drops too much, enzymes involved in energy production (mitochondria) can’t produce ATP, leading to fatigue.
Additionally, low pH can affect hemoglobin (the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen). Hemoglobin doesn’t bind to oxygen as efficiently, meaning less oxygen is delivered to the body which further disrupts the overall body function.
How does oxygen travel throughout the body?
- Nares
- Pharynx (throat) divides into two: the oesophagus (food) and the epiglottis (air).
- Down the trachea
- The trachea splits into two bronchi, one for each lung.
- Inside the lungs, the bronchi branch into smaller bronchioles, leading to tiny air sacs called alveoli.
- Within the alveoli, there is tiny blood vessels called capillaries, where it binds to hemoglobin in red blood cells.
- The oxygen rich blood then flows through arterioles (smaller arteries) to tissues throughout the body.
- The walls of the arteriole can constrict or dilate to regulate blood. With low oxygen, it will constrict. And with a lot of oxygen, it will dilate.
- The walls of these blood vessels allow oxygen to pass into cells for energy, while carbon dioxide is picked up and carried back to the lungs to be exhaled.
What is the normal blood pressure for adults?
Systolic: 90-140 millimetres of mercury
Diastolic: 60-90 millimetres of mercury
Documentation of respirations
RR: 14bpm, Regular, deep breaths.
Documentation for blood pressure
BP: 120/84 mmHg
What is the normal temperature for adults?
36-38 degrees Celsius
Documentation of temperature
What is the rationale for taking someone’s blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the force of blood on the walls of your arteries. Each time the heart beats, it uses force to push blood into your arteries. This is where the heart contracts and creates pressure otherwise known as the systolic pressure. When the heart relaxes the blood pressure falls. This is called the diastolic pressure.
Hypertension (high blood pressure): Every time your heart beats, it pumps blood into your arteries. Hypertension occurs when the force of blood pushing against the artery walls is too high. Hypertension patients are at risk for heart attack, heart failure and stroke.
Hypotension (low blood pressure): Force of blood pushing against the artery walls is too low. This means limited blood flow and oxygen. Heart damage and heart failure.
Blood circulation
- Right Atrium: Oxygen-poor blood from the body enters the right atrium through two large veins—the superior and inferior vena cava.
- Right Ventricle: When the right atrium contracts, it pushes the blood into the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve.
- Lungs: The right ventricle then contracts and pumps the blood through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery, which carries the blood to the lungs for oxygenation.
- Left Atrium: Oxygen-rich blood returns from the lungs via the pulmonary veins into the left atrium.
- Left Ventricle: When the left atrium contracts, the oxygenated blood flows through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. The left ventricle is the strongest chamber and pumps the oxygen-rich blood through the aortic valve into the aorta, from where it is distributed to the rest of the body.
What is the rationale for taking someone’s temperature?
Hyperthermia: high temperature e.g heat stroke and infection/fever.
Hypothermia: low temperature
The hypothalamus is a section of your brain that controls thermoregulation. When the hypothalamus senses your internal temperature becoming too low or high, it sends signals to your muscles, organs, glands, and nervous system.
If body too hot:
1. Sweating: your sweat glands release sweat, which cools your skin. This helps lower internal temperature.
- Vasodilation: the blood vessels under your skin get wider, increases blood flow under the skin. This lets your body release heat.
If body too cold:
1. Vasoconstriction: The blood vessels under your skin become narrower, decreases blood flow to your skin, retaining heat.
- Thermogenesis: muscles can produce heat by shivering.
- Hormonal thermogenesis: Your thyroid gland releases hormones to increase your metabolism. This increases the energy your body creates and the amount of heat it produces.
