______/ 25 points NAME _____Zykeria Hamilton_____

Review Sheet
Chapter 16

1. What do vital signs indicate?

2. What are the four vital signs? temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure
3. What is temperature and what is normal temperature? the measurement of heat loss/gain produced
by the body. 98.6 F 37 degrees C
4. What causes our temperature to vary? individual differences, time of day, body site
5. What causes our temperature to increase? illness, infection, exercise, excitement, environment
6. Where are the sites that we can take a temperature? oral, rectal, axillary, aural, temporal
7. What causes a decrease in body temperature? starvation/dieting, sleep, decreased muscle activity,
mouth breathing, exposure to cold temps., certain diseases
8. Define what a pulse is. pressure of blood in arteries
9. What types of things are we measuring in a pulse? rate, rhythm, volume
10. Where can pulses be measured? radial, brachial, carotid, femoral, popliteal, dorsal pedis
11. What is the apical pulse? pulse of the heart taken with a stethoscope
12. What is the range of pulse for an adult, child and infant? 60-80bpm
13. What is the difference between bradycardia and tachycardia? Bradycardia is slow heart rate while
Tachycardia is fast heart rate.
14. What are the sounds you hear when listening to the heart rate through a stethoscope? lubb-dupp
15. What are respirations? What are we looking at in respirations? amount of air inspired and expired.
Quality of someone's breathing.
16. What is the normal range of respirations for an adult and child? Normal adult – 14-18 breaths per
minute Children – 16-18 bpm
17. Describe the difference between inspiration and expiration? Inspiration - taking air in Expiration –
breathing air out
18. Define the following breathing disorders:dyspnea, apnea, Cheyne-stokes respirations, rales,wheezing.
Dyspnea- difficult or labored breathing
Apnea-absence of breathing
Cheyne-stokes breathing -periods of dyspnea followed by periods of apnea
Rales-bubbling or noisy sounds caused by fluids or mucous in air passages
Wheezing-difficulty breathing with high pitched whistling during expirations
19. What is blood pressure? What do we measure it with? measures the force of blood against the
arteries when the heart contracts or relaxes
20. What unit of measure is used in blood pressure? mm Hg
21. Define the systolic pressure and the diastolic pressure? What is normal bp for an adult? systolic – top
number; pressure in arteries normal is 120 mm Hg. diastolic – bottom number; pressure in veins
normal 80 mm Hg.
22. Define pulse pressure. What is the normal range? Pulse pressure – difference in systolic and
diastolic pressure. normal is 30-50
23. What is hypertension? What is the borderline bp for hypertension? Hypertension – high blood
pressure - when the systolic pressure is above 140 and the diastolic pressure is above 90.
24. What causes hypertension? stress, anxiety, obesity, high salt intake, aging, kidney disease,
thyroid deficiency, vascular conditions
25. What is hypotension? What blood pressure is considered to be low pressure? low blood pressure
- systolic < 100 - diastolic < 60
26. What causes hypotension? heart failure, dehydration, depression, severe burns, hemorrhage,
shock