CHECKING VITAL SIGNS

Learning Objectives

Able to measure vital signs on patients in English, toaskpermission to

take vital signs, and to record vital signs

Vital Signs:

 Temperature (oral, armpit, celcius or farenheit)

 Pulse (apical, temporal, femoral, radial, carotic, apex of
heart, popliteal, dorsalis pedis, posterior tibialis)
 Respiration
 BP (Blood Pressure: right arm or left arm).
It is now common practice for nurses tocommunicate with the
patients asmuch aspossible when they are doing routine nursing tasks.
If the nurses talk, the patients become involved in their treatment. As
the nurses take the patients’ vital signs, it will be better if they say
what they are going todo, explain whythey aredoing it
andgivethepatientsfeedback.

I Need to Take your Vital Signs

Nurse: “I need to take your vital signs to make sure that your
temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure are okay
while you’re staying in our hospital.”

Patient: “All right.”

Nurse: “I’m just going to wrap this cuff around your arm and pump
some air into it so that I can read your blood pressure. Could
you please roll up your sleeve a bit?”

Patient: “Right.” (Patient rolls up his sleeve.) “Like this?”

Nurse: “Yeah, that’s fine.” (Nurse attaches cuff and starts

pumping.) Patient: “It feels a bit funny.”

Nurse: “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt

you.” Patient: “What ismyblood

pressure?” Nurse: “Your blood pressure is

120/80.” Patient: “Is it OK?”

Nurse: “Yes. It’s normal.”

Task 1

MATCH the words (1-7) with the definitions (A-G).

1 Eupnea (G) 5 resting rate (F)

2 Diastolic (C) 6 stable (E)

3 Apnea (D) 7 heart rate (A)

4 Systolic (B)

A a measurement of howmany times a person's heart beats per

minute

B measures blood pressure as the heart

beats C measuresbloodpressure astheheart

rests D difficult or irregularbreathing

E having steady vital signs

F ameasurementofheartbeatsper
minutewhilenotengagedin physical activity

G regular,easy breathing
 Task 2

Look AT the pictures below! Describe WHAt the nurse is doing in eACH one!

1. Pulse check

Pulse check is a test to measure how many times patient's artery pulsed per minute
2. Temperature

Temperature test is a test to measure your body temperature

3. Blood pressure

Blood pressure is a measure of the force that your heart uses to pump blood around your
body

Dialog Vital Sign

Nurse : Good morning miss.
Patient : Morning nurs.
Nurse : Okay miss, introduce me nurse Anisa Syofiah, usually called nurse nisa. I am a nurse on
duty this morning, is it true with Miss Mitri?
Patient : True nurse with myself
Nurse : Okay miss mitri, how old is your lady and where does she live?
Patient : 21 years old and lives in pattimura.
Nurse : How are you feeling today after surgery?
Patient : It’s so cold in here! I think I have a fever and also dizzy.
Nurse : Let me check your forehead miss.
Patient : okay
Nurse : You feel a bit warm. Let's miss mitri let's measure your vital signs, which starts from
temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. Do you agree?
Patient : Agreed nurse, I also want to know the vital signs, are they normal or not.
Nurse : Okay miss, for about 5-10 minutes, the place is here, miss.
Patient : Yes nurs
Nurse : Let's start, miss mitri. We measure your body temperature first.
Patient : Sure
Nurse : Here, put the thermometer under your armpit please.
Patient : Okay.
A minute later........
Patient : So, how is it?
Nurse : Your body temperature is 37, 8C. It’s mean you have a bit of fever, but you don’t have
to be worried about it. It is normal to have a slight fever after a surgery like you miss. Now, I
would like you to relax as I am checking your pulse and respiration rate.
Patient : Okay
Nurse : So, your pulse rate is 80 per minute, your respiration rate is 16 per minute. It’s
good Patient : I’m glad to hear that
Nurse : Next, measure your blood pressure. Now would you please hold out your arm so that I
can wrap this cuff around it to read your blood pressure.
Patient : Ok
Nurse : Your blood pressure is 120/80. It’s normal
Patient : That’s great. Thank you
Nurse : Alright, we've finished measuring your vital signs miss, the results are normal. Except
the temperature, you have a little fever but that's okay. Later I will give you vitamins to reduce
Mitri's fever.
Patient : Okay miss
Nurse : I will say goodbye miss mitri. Don’t forget to take a rest and drink a lot of water.
Patient : I will. Thank you so much.