Vital Signs Examination Checklist PDF

1 Vital Signs examination 1234- Blood pressure Pulse Respiratory rate Body temperature Blood pressure measuring Normal: systolic 90-120 diastolic /60-80 Procedure: 1. Exposes the arm of the patient above cubital fossa 2. Makes sure that the clothes of the patient are not tight 3. Makes sure that the...

1 Vital Signs examination 1234- Blood pressure Pulse Respiratory rate Body temperature Blood pressure measuring Normal: systolic 90-120 diastolic /60-80 Procedure: 1. Exposes the arm of the patient above cubital fossa 2. Makes sure that the clothes of the patient are not tight 3. Makes sure that the arm of the patient is in correct position (slightly flexed at the elbow and raised to heart level ) 4. Places lower border of the cuff about 2.5 cm above the cubital crease 5. Secures the cuff and makes sure that the valve of the apparatus is turned off 6. Inflates the cuff appropriately 7. Estimates the systolic pressure by palpation of the radial artery 8. Deflates the cuff 9. Places the diaphragm of the stethoscope over the brachial artery 10. Inflates the cuff until the mercury column is rises above the estimated systolic pressure by 20 mmHg. 11. Releases the valve slowly 12. Gets the systolic pressure by the point of the first audible sound while he releases the valve 13. Gets diastolic pressure by the point of disappearance of the sound while he releases the valve 14. Releases the valve completely and removes the cuff By: Mona Mahrous A. Abdelaty Assistant Lecturer Of internal Medicine, Hematology &BMT 2 Examination of the radial pulse Normal: 60-90 beat/min Procedure: 1. Stand at the right side of the patient 2. Examines each artery in the right and left sides. 3. patient is relaxed and in sitting position 4. Places the tips of right index, middle and ring fingers between the bone and the tendon of the flexor carpi radials muscle to feel the pulse against the lower end of radius. 5. Applies gentle pressure and then increase the pressure gradually to feel the pulsating artery. 6. Counts the pulse rate for one minute (beat per minute) Respiratory Rate Normal 16-19 cycle per minute Procedure: 1. Expose patient upper chest and abdomen 2. Count each inspiration and expiration as one cycle then count another cycle (count either inspirations or expirations not both ) in one minute. 3. count while puts your fingers on the radial artery to avoid holding breath by the patient By: Mona Mahrous A. Abdelaty Assistant Lecturer Of internal Medicine, Hematology &BMT 3 Measuring body temperature Normal Body Temperature is 36.5-37.2 Procedure: 1- Oral method :  confirm that no oral infections or no warm fluids or diet introduced to patient just before measuring to avoid false high temperature  ensure that your patient is properly close his mouth while you put the thermometer below his tongue  wait for 1 minute the read the temperature ,if it still raising you can put again for another 30 seconds 2- Axillary method:  ensure that axilla is clean and no skin infections  ask the patient to raise his arm and put thermometer in the axilla then ask him to put his arm behind him  wait for 1 minute then read ,add 0.5 degree to the result( if you read 37 then the correct temperature is 37.5 degree) 3- Rectal method:  usually used in infants  but thermometer inside rectum and wait 1 minute then read  decrease 0.5 degree (if you read 38 ,the correct is 37.5) because you measure internal body temperature By: Mona Mahrous A. Abdelaty Assistant Lecturer Of internal Medicine, Hematology &BMT