Vital Signs

• Vital signs - Indicators of the body’s physiological status and response to physical activity, environmental conditions, and emotional stressors.
• vital signs - Provide quantitative measures of the status of cardiovascular/pulmonary system and reflect the function of the internal organs.
• vital signs are also referred to as cardinal signs
• Normative values provide the therapist with a general reference for comparison during evaluation of clinical findings.
• VS measurements yield the most useful information when performed and recorded at periodic intervals over time.
• Serial recording allows changes in patient status or response to treatment to be monitored over time and can indicate an acute change in physiological status at a specific point in time.
• Culture: Integration of learned behaviors characteristic of a society.
• Ethnicity: Affiliation with a group of people who share a common cultural origin or background
• Prior to formal examination of VS, careful systematic observation of the patient can reveal important preliminary data.
• cachexia – a state of ill health, appearance of malnutrition, and wasting associated with many chronic diseases)
• Skin color changes will indicate if cyanosis is present.
• Central cyanosis: Color changes in the mucuous membranes. Marked arterial desaturation
• Peripheral cyanosis: Skin color changes in the earlobes, nose, lips, and toes. Occurs 2 ° vasoconstriction. Relieved by warming the area.
• Abnormal sitting posture may be suggestive of pain or structural abnormalities and may interfere with respiratory patterns.
• Peripheral extremities should be observed for the presence of edema or clubbing.
• Clubbing is a bulbous swelling at the distal fingers and toes accompanied by a loss of normal angle between the nailbed and the skin. Associated with hypoxia.
• Body temperature represents a balance between the heat produced or acquired by the body and the amount lost.
• Homiothermic: body temperature remains relatively constant, despite changes in the environment.
• thermoregulatory center: Maintain a relatively constant internal

  body temperature.
• thermoregulatory center: This system monitors and acts to maintain T° that are optimal for normal cellular and vital

  organ function.
• Primary components of thermoregulatory center: Thermoreceptors, regulating center, effector organs.
• Peripheral receptors: Free nerve endings
• Central thermoreceptors: Hypothalamus
• Regulating center is located in the hypothalamus
• regulating center - Coordinates heat production and loss processes, much like a thermostat, ensuring an essentially constant and stable body temperature.
• effector organs - Respond to both increases and decreases in T°.
• Radiation – Electromagnetic waves.
• Convection – Movement of air or water.
• Evaporation – Dissipation of body heat by the conversion of a liquid to a vapor. Provides the major mechanism of heat loss during heavy exercise.
• Pyrogens - Fever-producing substances
• Extremely high fever - above 106 °F/41.1 °C
• Prodromal phase – Period prior to T° elevation.
• Invasion or onset – Period from either gradual or sudden rise until maximum T° is reached.
• Stationary phase– Point of highest elevation of the fever.
• Defervescence – Period during which the fever subsides and T° move toward normal.
• Remittent: Fluctuates more than 3.6 °F (2 °C).
• Constant: Constantly elevated with fluctuations less than 3.6 °F (2 °C)
• Relapsing: type of fever that last at least one day
• Function of the TC is impaired when body temperature falls below approximately 94 °F (34.4 ° C) and is completely lost with temperatures below 85 °F (29.4 °C)
• Body T° tends to be lowest between 4-6 AM and highest between 4-8 PM.