Vital signs

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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.

Primary four

There are four vital signs which are standard in most medical settings:# Body Temperature
    # Pulse rate (or heart rate) # Blood pressure # Respiratory rate
The equipment needed is a thermometer, a sphygmomanometer, and a watch. Though a pulse can often be taken by hand, a stethoscope may be required for a patient with a very weak pulse.

Additional signs

Fifth sign

The phrase "fifth vital sign" usually refers to pain, as perceived by the patient on a Pain scale 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, not an objective sign, and therefore object to this classification.Harold S. Lee. November 2004. Physical Diagnosis 101: A Lesson From the First Year of Medical School, in Letters to the Editor. American Society of Anesthesiologists, Volume 68, Number 11. Other sources include pulse oximetry as their fifth sign.Some sources consider pupil size, equality, and reactivity to light to be a vital sign as well.Daniel Limmer and Michael F. O'Keefe. 2005. Emergency Care 10th ed. Edward T. Dickinson, Ed. Pearson, Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Page 212 and 218.

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:
  • Urinary continence
  • End-tidal CO2
  • Emotional distress link
  • Spirometryhttp://www.ohsu.edu/medicine/residency/handouts/0405handouts/COPD091304.ppt
  • Glucosehttp://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/cme/about/documents/PrintHandout.ppt
  • Functional Status link
  • Oxygen saturation level
  • Intracranial pressure
  • Skin signs (color)

    • Variations by age

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

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