Student Nurses Guide to Vital Signs

The reason we call them vital signs is because they are very important to help diagnosis problems our patients may be experiencing. The vital signs include: pulse, temperature, respirations and blood pressure. Many places of employment are now including the pain level/comfort into vital signs as they feel this is a very important factor in determining your patient's needs.

As a nurse you should be able to do all the following:

1. Measure all vital signs correctly

2. Communicate all findings to the proper channels

3. Understand and construe all and any values

4. Begin any interventions as needed

The pulse is the rhythmic beating or vibrating of motion. Your pulse is the regular recurrent expansion and contraction of the artery produced by waves of pressure caused by the expulsion of blood from the left ventricle of the heart as it contracts. When the pulse is taken as a nurse you should note the rhythm, rate and volume of the pulse. The normal adult range of pulse is 60 to 100 beats per minute. When the heart beats over 100 beats per minute this is considered tachycardia and when the pulse beats less than 60 beats per minute this is considered bradycardia.

Temperature is the relative measure of sensible heat or cold, the body strives to maintain a temperature of 98.6⁰ F, which is considered the normal temperature. A normal range in body temperature is 97⁰ F or 37⁰ C to 99.6⁰ F or 36.1⁰ C to 37.5⁰ C. There are two types of body temperature core temperature which is the temperature of the deep tissue and surface temperature is the temperature of the skin.

Respirations is the taking in of oxygen, its use in the tissues and the giving off of carbon dioxide, this is all the act of breathing. An internal respiration is the exchange of gas at the alveolar level and the external respiration is the breathing that can be observed. A full respiration is a full breath in and a full breath out. A full assessment of respiration includes depth, rate, rhythm and quality. The normal adult rate is 12 to 20 respirations per minute. Tachypnea is the rapid respiratory rate over 20 respirations per minute and bradypnea is the slow respiratory rate below 12 respirations per minute.

Blood pressure is the pressure that is exerted by the circulating volume of blood on the arterial walls, chambers of the heart and veins. Systolic (top number) is the measurement of the ventricles contracting while diastolic (bottom number)is the measurement of pressure within the artery between beats. The pulse pressure is the difference between the systolic and diastolic. A normal blood pressure is considered 120/80 mm Hg. Hypertension is considered a high blood pressure that is above 140/90 mm Hg while hypotension is considered low blood pressure which is anything below a normal range.