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Vital signs are measures of various physiological statistics often taken by health professionals in order to assess the most basic body functions. Vital signs are an essential part of a case presentation
Case presentation

A case presentation is a formal communication between health care professionals regarding a patient's clinical information. Essential parts of a case presentation include:...
.

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The equipment needed is a thermometer
Thermometer

The thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles; it comes from the Greek language roots thermo, heat, and meter, to measure....
, a sphygmomanometer
Sphygmomanometer

A sphygmomanometer or blood pressure meter is a device used to measure blood pressure, comprising an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure....
, and a watch
Watch

A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person. The term now usually refers to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist with a strap or bracelet....
.

Though a pulse can often be taken by hand, a stethoscope
Stethoscope

The stethoscope is a acoustic medicine device for auscultation, or listening to eth internal sounds of an animal body. It is stom often used to listen to heart sounds....
 may be required for a patient with a very weak pulse.

e various additional signs have been proposed, none have been officially universally adopted due to the expense in obtaining equipment required to diagnose and the difficulty in training entry-level professionals.






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Vital signs are measures of various physiological statistics often taken by health professionals in order to assess the most basic body functions. Vital signs are an essential part of a case presentation
Case presentation

A case presentation is a formal communication between health care professionals regarding a patient's clinical information. Essential parts of a case presentation include:...
.

Primary four


There are four vital signs which are standard in most medical settings:

  1. Body temperature
    Thermoregulation

    Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its core temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different....
  2. Pulse
    Pulse

    In medicine, a person's pulse is the throbbing of their artery. It can be palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the ankle joint ....
     rate (or heart rate
    Heart rate

    Heart rate is a measure of the number of heart beats per minute . The average resting human heart rate is about 70 bpm for adult males and 75 bpm for adult females....
    )
  3. Blood pressure
    Blood pressure

    Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. The pressure of the circulating blood decreases as it moves away from the heart through artery and capillary, and toward the heart through veins....
  4. Respiratory rate
    Respiratory rate

    Respiratory rate is the number of breaths a living being, such as a human, takes within a certain amount of time .There is only limited research on monitoring respiratory rate, and these studies have focused on such issues as the inaccuracy of respiratory rate measurement and respiratory rate as a marker for respiratory dysfunction....


The equipment needed is a thermometer
Thermometer

The thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles; it comes from the Greek language roots thermo, heat, and meter, to measure....
, a sphygmomanometer
Sphygmomanometer

A sphygmomanometer or blood pressure meter is a device used to measure blood pressure, comprising an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure....
, and a watch
Watch

A watch is a timepiece that is made to be worn on a person. The term now usually refers to a wristwatch, which is worn on the wrist with a strap or bracelet....
.

Though a pulse can often be taken by hand, a stethoscope
Stethoscope

The stethoscope is a acoustic medicine device for auscultation, or listening to eth internal sounds of an animal body. It is stom often used to listen to heart sounds....
 may be required for a patient with a very weak pulse.

Additional signs

While various additional signs have been proposed, none have been officially universally adopted due to the expense in obtaining equipment required to diagnose and the difficulty in training entry-level professionals. However, body mass index (ratio of height to weight) has been introduced in recent years as an additional vital sign that is easy to measure and indicative of disease risk.

Fifth sign


The phrase "fifth vital sign" usually refers to pain
Pain

Pain, in the sense of physical pain, is a typical sensory experience that may be described as the unpleasant awareness of a noxious stimulus or bodily harm....
, as perceived by the patient on a Pain scale
Pain scale

A pain scale measures a patient's pain intensity or other features. Pain scales are based on self-report, observational , and/or physiological data....
 of 0–10.For example, the Veterans Administration made this their policy in 1999. However, some doctors have noted that pain is actually a subjective symptom
Symptom

A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality. A symptom is subjective, observed by the patient, and not measured....
, not an objective sign
Medical sign

A medical sign is an Objectivity indication of some medical fact or characteristic that may be detected by a physician during a physical examination of a patient....
, and therefore object to this classification.

Other sources include pulse oximetry
Pulse oximeter

A pulse oximeter is a medical device that indirectly measures the oxygen saturation of a patient's blood and changes in blood volume in the skin, producing a photoplethysmograph....
 as their fifth sign.

Some sources consider pupil
Pupil

The pupil is the sphere that is located in the center of the Iris of the eye and that controls the amount of light that enters the eye. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the biological tissue inside the eye....
 size, equality, and reactivity to light to be a vital sign as well.

Sixth sign


There is no standard "sixth vital sign", and the use is much more informal and discipline-dependent than with the above, but some proposals (excluding the fifth sign candidates above) include:

  • Shortness of breath
  • Molecular Genetics in Oncology


Variations by age


Children and infants have respiratory and heart rates that are faster than those of adults as shown in the following table:

AgeNormal heart rate
(beats per minute)		Normal respiratory rate
(breaths per minute)
Newborn 100-160 30-50
0-5 months 90-190 25-40
6-12 months 80-140 20-30
1-3 years 80-130 20-30
3-5 years 80-120 20-30
6-10 years 70-110 15-30
11-14 years 60-105 12-20
14+ years 60-100 12-20


See also

  • Biotelemetry
    Biotelemetry

    Biotelemetry involves the application of telemetry in the medical field to remotely monitor various vital signs of ambulatory patients....


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