What Are Vital Signs and How Do They "Measure" Life?

Often called "baseline vital signs" or simply "a set of vitals" by health care providers, vital signs are the outward signs of what is taking place inside the body. Medical signs are not the same thing as symptoms. Signs are indications of a medical condition that can be seen, heard, felt, and measured not only by the patient, but also by others. Symptoms, on the other hand, cannot be seen, heard, felt, or measured by anyone but the patient; they are his complaints or description of his condition in his own words.

Vital signs are: respiration, pulse, skin color, skin temperature, skin condition, blood pressure, capillary refill (in infants and children), and the condition of pupils. They are the signs of life and the indicators of the immediate state of that life--information needed for proper medical intervention. For example, if there is no pulse and no respiration, the patient is clinically dead and resuscitative measures are taken to prevent biological or irreversible death. Skin that is cool, clammy, cyanotic (bluish-gray), flushed, or jaundiced indicates problems within the body. Cyanotic skin generally is the result of insufficient oxygen reaching the red blood cells while mottled skin might be seen in patients who are in shock.

Blood pressure is created from the force of the blood against the walls of the blood vessels. Readings can indicate hypertension (high blood pressure); they can serve as one of the later signs of shock if pressure drops, and as indicators of other problems taking place. Capillary refill serves to check how well an infant's or child's blood is circulating, and consists of pressing on his nail beds, or the top of his hand or foot and waiting to see how long it takes for the normal pink color to return upon releasing your finger. Checking the nail beds is also the best place for verifying accurate circulation in patients who are not fair-skinned. Looking at the pupils is another way to quickly gather information about what might be taking place in the body such as a head or eye injury or the use of drugs.

How Vital Signs Are Taken

Vital signs usually are simple to take on a healthy person; however, getting a set of vitals for a trauma patient can be stressful unless you're highly experienced or have access to the computerized machines that take respirations, temperature, pulse, and blood pressure for you. Checking skin color and condition is a matter of a visual inspection. Manually taking systolic and diastolic blood pressure requires the use of a medical instrument known as a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. However, a systolic pressure can be recorded without a stethoscope if you know how to take a blood pressure by palpation or "BP by palp." A pen light is used to visually inspect the pupils to see if they are unequal, unreactive to light, dilated or constricted. If you ever have to receive pre-hospital care by emergency medical technicians (EMT's) or paramedics, you can expect all these vital signs to be taken if you're a trauma patient. The pupils are not always checked in medical patients.

Normal Ranges for Vital Signs

So, what is normal if the patient is an adult? Adults should have from 12 to 20 respirations per minute if at rest. Their systolic blood pressure should be close to 120 and the diastolic should be somewhere around 80. The pulse should be between 60 and 100 per minute. Normal pediatric vital signs are: respirations between 15 and 30 and pulse between 70 and 140 (this does not include newborns). There is some slight disagreement regarding normal ranges for vital signs; but, it is very slight and you need not get so specific unless you're preparing to take your written and practical exams for licensure.

Source:

EMT state licensed, NREMT certified, EMT experience