Importance Of Taking Vital Signs

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What is the first thing every nurse or doctor performs on you when you go into the doctor 's office? They take your vital signs. When in an accident or emergency occurs, what is the first thing paramedics do? They take your vital signs. Why is this one may ask? Are they that important? Vital signs are vital, hence the reason they are called vital signs. There are four main vital signs that get taken. They include pulse, respirations, blood pressure, and temperature. The patient 's level of pain is also sometimes considered another vital sign. When it comes to taking vital signs a person will develop their own pattern in the order they take each vital sign. Vital signs are taken almost instantly by the health career worker. Every time someone …show more content…
Pulse is the rate at which your heart is beating. You can feel the pulse by some of the main arteries. The most common spot to take someone’s pulse is on the wrist using their radial artery. When taking their pulse through their radial artery you place your index and middle fingers over the area of the wrist that leads directly from the radius bone, where you will feel a “throbbing” sensation. An average pulse can range anywhere between 60 to 90 beats per minute (bpm). Another way to find out someone’s pulse is to take it apically. When taking an apical pulse, you are using a stethoscope placing it over the patient’s left side of their chest, or over their heart, and counting each lupp-dupp beat you hear. When taking a pulse you want to pay attention to three characteristics; quantity, regularity, and volume (Goldberg). Quantity is the number of beats you count per minute. While counting the beats you want to feel if the beats are consistent and in normal rhythm. If you think you feel an abnormality in the rhythm you should then listen to the heart and see if you hear anything. Sometimes this could mean that there is an inadequate ventricular filling (Goldberg). When feeling for the volume you want to make note if the pulse is strong or weak and thready. A strong pulse is good. Having a weak pulse could potentially mean systolic heart failure …show more content…
Respirations are the number of expressions, inhalations of oxygen and exhalation of carbon dioxide. One intake and out-take is considered one expression toward their rate of respirations. Most people know this as a breath. A normal range of respirations for a teenager to adult is 12-20 breaths per minute (Goldberg). When taking respirations you do not want the patient to know that you are counting their respirations. Most health care workers have learned to multi-task. They will act like they are still taking a pulse and watch them breath at the same time. The main reason behind this is because people tend to change their breathing habits when they know that someone is watching them. When taking vital signs you want to get an accurate reading. Some health care workers will only count for 30 seconds then multiply by two or count for 15 seconds then multiply that by 4. Respirations can be a reliable marker for disease activity when dealing with things such as cardiopulmonary illness

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