Vital Signs Flashcards
What are the five primary vital signs?
Pulse rate (heart rate)
Respiratory rate (breathing rate) Oxygen saturation
Blood pressure
Body temperature
When a patient is showing a decrease in respiratory rate and heart rate, what is the first thing that a respiratory therapist does?
Provide the patient with oxygen.
The heart
A fist size organ, whose main job is to pump blood to different body parts so that oxygen and other vital nutrients will be transported to cells, tissues, organs, and other body systems.
The heart two sounds
Lub and dub.
The lub sound is created when the upper chambers of your heart contract to squeeze the blood down to your ventricles.
The dub sound is created by the lower chambers of the heart contracting pushing blood upward into the aorta (largest artery).
The pulse
can be felt anywhere an artery close to your skin such as:
- your wrist (radial)
- inner part of your elbow (brachial)
- side of your throat carotid
- temple temporal
- groin (femoral)
- back of the knee (popliteal)
- inner part of your ankle joint (posterior tibial)
- foot dorsalis pedis
Normal resting heart rate
Depends on your age.
In adults, the normal resting heart rate is 60 to 100 bpm
In infants and young children, 140 to 160 bpm
Factors that can significantly affect your heart rate, as follows:
Air temperature smoking body anatomy body position emotions fitness and activity levels history of heart disease blood vessel disease Medications
Low heart rates
A heart rate lower than 60 bpm is normal in trained athletes and people who are physically active.
However, low heart rates in people with low activity levels may indicate an underlying problem.
Radial Pulse
The wrist is the most common and convenient place to palpate or check for a pulse.
However, if the use of radial pulse is contra indicated (e.g. presence of wound or injury) other alternative sites should be used.
Respiratory rate
Is the number of breaths you take in per minute.
Respiratory rate is usually measured when you are at rest and simply involves counting the number of breaths in one full minute by observing the rise and fall of the chest.
One inhalation and one exhalation is counted as one breath in the respiratory rate.
The aim of measuring the respiratory rate-
To check for the presence of normal, fast (Tachypnea), slow rate (Bradypnea), or nonexistent (apnea) respirations.
Several factors such as activity levels, emotions, stress, smoking and drinking habits, medications and illness can affect the respiratory rate.
What is respiration?
The process by which your body takes in oxygen through inhalation and eliminates carbon dioxide through exhalation.
The exchange of these gases takes place across cell membranes.
What happens when oxygen is in the body?
Oxygen is transferred in your body, it enters the cells and breaks down food particles into smaller pieces in order to produce energy in the form of (ATP) adenosine triphosphate.
This energy is then used by the cells to perform various metabolic activities at optimal levels.
Oxygen saturation
A.k.a. O2 sats or SP02, is the extent to which the hemoglobin is saturated with oxygen.
Hemoglobin’s major role
Is to carry oxygen to the different parts of the body.
And healthy adults and children, normal oxygen saturation ranges from 95% to 100%.
For people with abnormal low oxygen saturation levels, additional oxygen may be administered via nasal cannula or facemask.
For instance, 100 hemoglobin molecules can carry a maximum of 400 oxygen molecules (1 hemoglobin can carry 4 oxygen molecules) so that they can provide 100% saturated oxygen.
If 100 hemoglobin molecules are only carrying 200 oxygen molecules, then the oxygen saturation is only 50%.
What does oxygen saturation levels depend upon-
- Ability of hemoglobin to carry oxygen molecules
- gas exchange in the lungs •oxygen availability
- the concentration of hemoglobin in red blood cells
How to measure oxygen saturation:
- Arterial blood gas (ABG):
This procedure is an invasive method of measuring oxygen saturation.
It involves drawing blood from an artery such as a radial artery in the wrist to be analyzed in the laboratory.
- Pulse oximetry:
Pulse oximetry is a non-invasive method of assessing oxygen saturation as it only requires the use of a sensor attached to a finger or ear lobe. Compared to an ABG test, this method is quicker and painless, but is not always exact. +- 3
What is the normal pulse rate?
60 to 100 bpm
What is the normal respiratory rate?
12 to 20 breaths per minute
What is the normal blood pressure?
110/70 to 120/80
What is the normal body temperature?
Oral 97.7 - 99.5 F or 36.5 - 37.5 C
Auxiliary 96.7 - 98.5 F or 35.9 - 36.9 C
Rectal or ear 98.7 - 100.5 F or 37.1 - 38.1 C
What is the normal oxygen saturation?
95 - 99% or greater than 93%
A low oxygen saturation is a good indicator of what?
Hypoxemia
What are complications with pulse oximeters?
Low perfusion, incorrectly fitted probe, the vascular bed is not pulsating dark fingernails, or the light is unable to pass through.
What is the accuracy range on a pulse oximeter?
+ or -3%
What is the heart rate for someone who is bradycardic?
Less than 60 bpm.
What is the respiratory rate for someone who is tachypneic?
Greater than 20 bpm.
What is the blood pressure for someone who is hypotension?
Less than 90/60
What is the breathing rate of someone who is apneustic?
Long gasping inspirations with insufficient expiration.
What is eupnea?
A normal respiratory rate (12-20 bpm)
The normal physiology of being a human being.
Fast and deep breath’s with periods of apnea and no set rhythm is what breathing pattern?
Biot’s breathing
Cheyne-Stokes
A breathing pattern that is normal and newborns and elderly, but abnormal for healthy adults.
A breathing pattern that is seen and critically ill patients just before taking their last breaths, (before death).
Kussmaul breathing is an indication of what?
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), severe hemorrhage, peritonitis, renal failure, and uremia.
What is the normal heart rate for a newborn?
90 to 180 bpm
Tachycardic
If a patient’s heart rate is greater than 100 bpm.
What is diabetic ketoacidosis?
A shortage of insulin which causes the body to burn fatty acids and produce acidic ketone bodies.
The pulse rate and rhythm can be measured by what?
Auscultation or palpitation of any artery.
What is used to measure blood pressure?
Sphygmomanometer
What is fever?
A higher than normal body temperature (hyperthermia).
What does pulse oximetry estimate?
It noninvasively estimates be hemoglobin oxygen saturation of arterial blood.
What factors affect the accuracy of pulse oximetry reading?
Movement Bright light Extreme cold Extreme darkness High methemoglobin (cannot bind O2 to carry it to tissues) Shock Fingernail polish No pulse
What is Hypertension?
A blood pressure greater than 140/90.
What is the Systolic blood pressure?
The top number which measures the pressure in the artery with the heart beats.
What is the diastolic blood pressure?
The bottom number that measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart muscle is resting.
How is the strength (amplitude) of a pulse measured on a scale?
4 - bounding 3 - full 2 - normal 1 - diminished 0 - absent
What is apnea?
The absence of breathing. Causes: respiratory or cardiac arrest, and an increase Intracranial pressure.
What are the different types of pulse oximetry probes?
Finger probe Foot probe Toe probe Forehead probe Ear probe
What can affect a body temperature reading?
Cool or heat it aerosols.
