Vital signs are a critical part of a patient’s physical assessment. They include temperature, pain, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. For temperature, the goal is to determine whether the body’s activities are within normal range which is important to homeostasis. Fevers indicate that the body is trying to fight microorganisms. The normal ranges vary with the form of assessment used (oral - 97.6 F – 99.6F, forehead - 98.6F – 100.6F, armpit - 96.6F – 98.6F, rectal - 98.6F – 100F, and ear - 97.6F – 99.6F.
The pulse is another critical vital sign measured by pressing on certain parts of the body including the wrist, neck, inner elbow and the apex on the chest. The pulse is the number of times the heart beats per minute. The normal range is 120 -160, 80 – 140, 80 – 130, 74 – 120, 70 – 110, and 60 – 100 for newborns, infants, toddlers, preschool children, school - age children, and adolescent – adults respectively.
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The movement of air in and out of the lungs is another vital sign, referred to as respiration. It is measured by counting the inhalations or exhalations (cycles) per minute. With age, the rates vary. Infants have 30 – 60, toddlers have 20 -40, preschool children have 22 – 34, school – age children have 18 – 24 while adolescents and adults have 12 – 20 cycles within the normal range. Blood pressure is another vital sign and it is measured by a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. It is indicated in systolic numbers/diastolic numbers which are the pressure of arteries when the heart beats and in between heartbeats, respectively. Palpatory systolic pressure is used when using the sphygmomanometer while the stethoscope is used to listen to flow of blood. Normal rates vary as 60/20 – 94/56, 80/50 – 100/70, 84/50 – 110/60, 90/56 – 120/80 and 90/60 – 140/90 for infants, toddlers, preschool children, school – age children, school – age children, and adolescents as well as adults respectively.
Pain assessment is important as well and it shows the scale of pain of the patient. The scale used is from 0 to 10 with zero being no pain and ten being the worst pain. The Wong-Baker faces of rating pain is another one with faces showing five scales of pain. Among other vital signs is blood glucose showing glucose levels in the blood and oxygen saturation indicating oxygen in the blood in relation to its full capacity. These signs are critical to a patient’s assessment.
