Temple College EMS Program

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VITAL SIGNS

EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN - BASIC

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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 basis for

comparison of later sets of VitalSigns

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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• Rate

–Adult• 60-80 Beats/minute

–Child• 80-110 Beats/minute

–Infant• 120-150 Beats/minute

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Pulse–Rhythm

• Regular

• 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

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Respiration–Quality

• Full

• Deep

• Shallow

• Labored

• 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

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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

–Female90 + Age (up to 50

80

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Auscultated Blood Pressure

• Child94 - 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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Vital Signs

• DO NOT TREAT NUMBERS - - - - - - TREAT PEOPLE!!!!