VITAL SIGNS
Vital Access to the Patients
True Condition
Vital Signs
• Vital signs are an outward clue to what is
going on in the patient’s body
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Vital Signs
• Baseline Vital Signs provide a starting point
to evaluate the status of a patients condition
• A tool for the EMT and other medical
professionals to monitor changes within the
patients condition
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Vital Signs
• It is important to monitor “trends” in Vital
Signs rather than individual sets of Vital
Signs
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Pulse
• Pulse Points
Carotid
Brachial
Radial
Femoral
Popliteal
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Pulse
• Pulse Points
Dorsal Pedal
Posterior Tibial
(Posterior and slightly
inferior to medial
Malleolus)
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Pulse
• Normal Rate
– Adult
• 60-80 Beats/minute
– Child
• 80-110 Beats/minute
– Infant
• 120-150 Beats/minute
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Pulse
• Rhythm
– Regular
– Irregular
– Irregularly Irregular
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Pulse
• Quality
– Full
– Weak (Thready)
– Bounding
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Respirations
• Rate
– Adult
• 12-24 Resp/min
– Child
• 20-28 Resp/min
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Respirations
• Rate
– Infant
• 30-70 Resp/min @ birth
• 30 Resp/min @ 6 months
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Respirations
• Rhythm
–
–
–
–
Regular
Irregular
Fast
Slow
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Respiration
• Quality
–
–
–
–
Full
Deep
Shallow
Noisy
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Blood Pressure
• Systolic - Pressure on the arterial wall when
the heart contracts
• Diastolic - Pressure on the arterial wall
when the heart is at rest
• Coronary Arteries are opposite
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Blood Pressure
• Auscultated BP - Listening for both the
systolic and diastolic values
• Palpated BP - Feeling for the systolic
pressure
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Auscultated Blood Pressure
• Adult
– Male
• 100+ Age (up to 50)
»
80
– Female
• 90 + Age (up to 50)
»
80
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Auscultated Blood Pressure
• Child
• 94 - 100
• 56 - 64
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Auscultated Blood Pressure
• Infant
– At Birth
• 60 - 80
• 40 - 76
– At 6 Months
• 90
• 40-76
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Estimating Blood Pressure
• Radial Pulse Present?
– >80 Systolic
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Estimating Blood Pressure
• Femoral Pulse Present?
– >70 Systolic
– <80 Systolic
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Estimating Blood Pressure
• Carotid Pulse Present?
– >60 Systolic
– <70 Systolic
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Don’t Loose Focus
• Treat the patient not the machine
Any Questions?
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