Vital signs

Stethoscope

Stethoscope

The stethoscope is an instrument used for Auscultation, or listening to the sounds \n produced by the body. It is used primarily to listen to the lungs, heart and intestinal tract. It is \n also used to listen to blood flow in peripheral vessels and the heart sounds of developing \n fetuses in pregnant women.

Thermometer

Medical thermometers are used for measuring human body temperature, with \n the tip of the thermometer being inserted either into the mouth (oral temperature), under the \n armpit (axillary temperature), or into the rectum via the anus (rectal temperature)

Blood Pressure Cuff

A sphygmomanometer or blood pressure cuff is a device used to \n measure blood pressure, comprising an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or \n mechanical manometer to measure the pressure. It is always used in conjunction with a means \n to determine at what pressure blood flow is just starting, and at what pressure it is unimpeded. \n Manual sphygmomanometers are used in conjunction with a stethoscope.

Glucometer

A glucose meter (or glucometer) is a medical device for determining the \n approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It is a key element of home blood glucose \n monitoring (HBGM) by people with diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia. A small drop of blood, \n obtained by pricking the skin with a lancet, is placed on a disposable test strip that the meter \n reads and uses to calculate the blood glucose level. The meter then displays the level in mg/dl \n (milligrams per deciliter)

Watch with a sweep second hand

Traditionally, watches have displayed the time in analog \n form, with a numbered dial upon which are mounted at least a rotating hour hand and a longer, \n rotating minute hand. Many watches also incorporate a third hand that shows the current \n second of the current minute.

Body Temperature

Normal human body temperature, also known as normothermiaor \n euthermia, is a concept that depends upon the place in the body at which the measurement \n is made, and the time of day and level of activity of the body. There is no single number that \n represents a normal or healthy temperature for all people under all circumstances using any \n place of measurement.

Pulse

In medicine, a person's pulse is the arterial palpation of a heartbeat.[1] It can be \n palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at \n the neck (carotid artery), at the wrist (radial artery), behind the knee (popliteal artery), on the \n inside of the elbow (brachial artery), and near the ankle joint (posterior tibial artery). The \n pulse rate can also be measured by measuring the heart beats directly (the apical pulse).

Blood Pressure

a force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of \n blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. During each heartbeat, BP varies \n between a maximum (systolic) and a minimum (diastolic) pressure. The mean BP, due to \n pumping by the heart and resistance in blood vessels, decreases as the circulating blood \n moves away from the heart through arteries. It has its greatest decrease in the small arteries \n and arterioles, and continues to decrease as the blood moves through the capillaries and \n back to the heart through veins.[1] Gravity, valves in veins, and pumping from contraction of \n skeletal muscles, are some other influences on BP at various places in the body. The term \n blood pressure usually refers to the pressure measured at a person's upper arm. It is \n measured on the inside of an elbow at the brachial artery, which is the upper arm's major \n blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart. A person's BP is usually expressed in \n terms of the systolic pressure and diastolic pressure, for example 115/75.

Respiratory Rate

as the transport \n of oxygen from the outside air to the cells within tissues, and the transport of carbon dioxide \n in the opposite direction. This is in contrast to the biochemical definition of respiration, which \n refers to cellular respiration: the metabolic process by which an organism obtains energy \n by reacting oxygen with glucose to give water, carbon dioxide and ATP (energy). Although \n physiologic respiration is necessary to sustain cellular respiration and thus life in animals, \n the processes are distinct: cellular respiration takes place in individual cells of the animal, \n while physiologic respiration concerns the bulk flow and transport of metabolites between \n the organism and the external environment.

Blood Glucose Level

the \n amount of glucose (sugar) present in the blood of a human or animal. Normally, in mammals \n the body maintains the blood glucose level at a reference range between about 3.6 and \n 5.8 mM (mmol/L). It is tightly regulated as a part of metabolic homeostasis.

Body Weight

used in daily English speech as well as in the contexts of \n biological and medical sciences to describe the mass of an organism's body. Body weight is \n measured in kilograms throughout the world, although in some countries people more often \n measure and describe body weight in pounds (e.g. United States and Canada) or stones \n and pounds (e.g. among people in the Commonwealth of Nations) and thus may not be well \n acquainted with measurement in kilograms. Most hospitals, even in the United States, now \n use kilograms for calculations, but use kilograms and pounds together for other purposes. (1 \n kg is approximately 2.2 lb; 1 stone (14 lb) is approximately 6.4 kg.)

Apical

Pertaining to the apex or pointed end of the heart

Diastolic Blood Pressure

The pressure remaining in the arteries during ventricular \n relaxation

Sign

An indication of a patient's condition that is objective, or can be observed by \n another person; an indication that can be seen, heard, smelled or felt by the medical \n practitioner

Sphygmomanometer

Instrument calibrated for measuring blood pressure in \n millimeters of mercury (mm Hg)

Vital Signs

Outward signs of what is going on inside the body, including respiration; \n pulse; skin color, temperature, and condition (plus capillary refill in infants and children); \n pupils; and blood pressure

Auscultation

The act of listening for sounds within the body

Hyperthermia

Occurs when the body temperature exceeds 104 degrees, measured \n rectally.

Cyanosis

A dusky, bluish discoloration of the skin, lips, and/or nail beds as a result of \n decreased oxygen and increased carbon dioxide in the bloodstream.

Palpation

Technique used to feel the texture, size, consistency, and location of parts of \n the body with the hands