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Lesson
Class LBHS MS 10 Signs and symptoms Course Grade 10
Title/Focus

PROGRAM OF STUDY OUTCOMES

 General outcome 5: explain basic principles of anatomy, physiology and disease related to systems
of the human body
 5.1 identify common prefixes and suffixes related to anatomy, physiology, pathology and the
terminology describing body systems
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson students will be able to:
- Identify the difference between signs and symptoms
- Identify vital signs that we all experience in everyday lives

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

 Power point of signs and symptoms
 Keeping Canada alive video

PREPARATION AND LOGISTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

 Have the video up and ready to go before class to save time

PROCEDURE
Introduction Time
 Welcome students in and take attendance
 To start the class, we will be watching a video with a worksheet involved. min

Body Time
Topic: Bring up the Keeping Canada alive video on the projector. As 25-30 min
students watch, they can fill out some of the questions on the
worksheet. Similar to the ER video we watched earlier in the
semester, everything happens in chronological order. So if
they miss the chance of getting the answer, they will miss it.

Watch the video and go along the worksheet as well.

After the video, we can go over answers? (if it is for marks, go

over questions that students had trouble on)

Once questions are over, ask students to hand in their

worksheet in our class bin at the front. we will be moving onto
our next topic, signs and symptoms.

Bring up the signs and symptoms power point on your google

drive. While that is going on, you can hand out the notes that
go along with it to students.
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What are signs
• Objective manifestation of an illness, injury or disease
• Something someone can observe and measure
• Rule of thumb: If the sign can be seen from someone
other than the patient, it is most likely a sign
What are symptoms
• This is what the patient experiences (subjective from
the patient’s POV) about the illness, injury or disease
• Rule of Thumb: If it is felt by a patient, it is most likely
a symptom.
In the following slide, identify which one is a sign and
symptom

• Erythema
• “Reddening of skin”
• Parethesia
- “tingling sensation”
Making Observations
• Location – where in your body is it affecting
• Type -
• Severity – how bad are the symptoms
• Timing – when did you get the symptoms?
• Aggravating/relieving factors – what are the factors
that will make it worse or better?

After the making observation slide, hand out the “the body’s
warning signals” practice sheet.
On this worksheet, there are 20 examples of terms that are
either signs or symptoms. Students will work through these
examples, indicating whether the terms or statements are
referring to a sign or a symptom. Give them around 10-15
minutes to work through as many as they can. Afterwards,
you can go through half of them to see if they are
understanding how to tell the difference.

Once students are done with that, you can continue with the
power point.

What are vital signs

• These are signs that health care professionals will
evaluate at doctor’s visit
• Vital signs are the clinical measurements of body
functions, such as blood pressure. Can students think
of any other examples of vital signs? (temperature,
respiration rate, pulse rate. We will be going over these
in this class)
• Also, a quick and effective way to monitor patient’s
condition and determine their state of health
Body temperature
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• This is the measurement between heat lost and heat
produced by the body
• Heat can be lost through: (ask students what they think
first before showing the answers)
• Perspiration (sweating), respiration (breathing), and
excretion (waste)
• Heat can be produced by: (ask students what they
think first before showing the answers)
• - Digestion and muscle contraction
• Standard body temperature? Does anyone know?
• 37°C
• Any distinguishable variations in body temperature
will result in specific health conditions
Hyperthermia:
(Ask students if they know what the word means by using
their yellow dictionary)
• Elevated body temperature related to the body’s
inability to effectively release or reduce heat.
• Usually results in a fever, with body temperatures
going over 38°C
Hypothermia
(This would be the opposite of hyperthermia)
• This is heat loss due to long exposure to cold
temperatures
• Temperature is usually below 35.5°C
Measure temperature orally (mouth), Rectally (in the rectum)
and Axillary (under armpit)

Pulse
• This is the number of times the heart will beat per one
minute
• The heart acts as a pump, sending blood through
arteries to the body
• Two phases to create a heartbeat:
• Contraction and relaxation
• Healthy adult pulse ranges from 60-100 beats/min at
rest
• Taken from areas of the body where an artery is
closest to the surface of the skin.
• Usually use two finger (Index and Middle) to press
down on certain areas:
• Wrist (radial), Neck (carotid), and Inner elbow
(brachial)
Lets try taking our pulse right now. Everyone can either
choose to take their pulse on their wrist, next or inner elbow.
Once everyone is ready, set a timer on your phone for 15
seconds. Let students know when the timer starts. Once those
15 seconds are over, take the number of pulses you counted
and multiply that number by 4, which totals to 60 seconds.
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What was everyone’s pulse rate?

Respiratory rate
• This is the number of breaths taken per minute
• Taking in oxygen (inhaling) and breathing out carbon
dioxide (exhaling) counts as one breath
• Measure respiratory rate when you are at rest.
• A healthy range is 12-20 breaths per minute
Breathing sounds
• Doctors will use a tool called a Stethoscope to record
any specific sounds that they could hear in the lungs
with someone is taking a breath.
• Any presence of abnormal/altered breathing sounds
could indicate some form of respiratory problems.
• 1. Wheeze
• High pitched sounds produced by narrow or
obstructed airway (asthma)
• 2. Stridor
• Higher pitched. Wheezing like sound heard when a
person inhales
• 3. Stertor
• Snoring sound with heavy breathing (vibration of
fluid/blockage around the throat). Could be a result of
Pneumonia
• Crackle:
- brief, discontinuous, rattling sound caused by explosive
opening of the small airways.
Blood pressure
• Blood pumps through the body to give organs oxygen
they need
• The force of blood pushing against blood vessels is
called: blood pressure
• The tool used to measure blood pressure is called
sphygmomanometer
• Top number is systolic BP. This is the highest level of
BP when the heart contracts
• Bottom number is diastolic. This is the lowest number
of BP when the heart relaxes.
• What is the standard range?

Conclusion Time
Assessment
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Additional Notes:
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- During the video, there were times where I should’ve paused it or rewind the video to allow
student to catch some of the answers.
- The video was 48 minutes long. It was a long time of sitting, giving them a few minutes to get
up and stretch, walk around a bit would’ve helped them.
- Made good connections with the examples that were on the slides. Tried to choose examples
where students could potentially experience it in their lives. Understanding how to identify
those signs and symptoms early can help them combat the illness, disease, or injury
effectively.
- We have sphygmomanometers in the classroom, as well as thermometers, stethoscopes. It
would’ve helped if students saw a real device.
- For the breathing sounds, if I found an example of what those breathing sounds actually
sound like, it would’ve given them a more clear message/understanding of what it was.