2. 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

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

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

5. 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 – 100.6 F  One degree higher than oral Tympanic  Same as rectal

6. 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

7. 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

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

9. 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 100-103F Hypothermia: under 96F

10. 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

11. Pulse Points Temporal Carotid Apical Brachial Radial Femoral Popliteal Dorsal pedalis

12. 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 60-100 bpm Tachycardia =  than 100 Bradycardia =  than 60

13. 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

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

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

16. 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

17. Charting Chart in order of TPR Do not write T=, P=, R= Write 98.6-84-22