Vital Signs (2 CEU’s)

Vital signs are a group of the four to six most important medical signs that indicate the status of the body’s vital functions. These measurements are taken to help assess the body’s most basic functions or the general physical health of a person. They give clues to possible diseases and show progress toward recovery. They are useful in detecting or monitoring medical problems. Vital signs can be measured in a medical setting, at home, at the site of a medical emergency, or elsewhere.

The four main vital signs routinely monitored by medical professionals and health care providers include the following:

• Body temperature
• Pulse rate
• Respiration rate (rate of breathing)
• Blood pressure

Objectives

1. Understand the significance of vital signs.
2. Identify the parameters/normal ranges of vital signs
3. Identify factors that influence vital signs
4. Understand the rationale for obtaining vital signs

Instructions for taking the course

To complete the course successfully, you must go through all the lessons below. You MUST mark each lesson as complete by clicking the MARK COMPLETE BUTTON. If you do not click the mark complete button, you will not be allowed to proceed to the next lesson. Please notice that all lessons have a minimum set amount of time that you are expected to spend on each lesson. You will not be allowed to Mark the Lesson Complete until the timer resets to zero; that is, until the minimum time set for the course has passed. For example if lesson A has an allocated minimum time of 10 minutes, you will have to wait 10 minutes before you can mark Lesson A complete. The Mark Complete button for lesson A will be grayed out and will not become active until 10 minutes are over.

WARNINGIf you forget to click the Mark Complete button done, you will be prompted to go back to that lesson again and have to wait till the allocated timed minutes resets to zero again before the Mark Complete button becomes active. After all lessons are completed and they are Marked Completed, you will then be allowed to take the post test. If you successfully pass the quiz, you will earn CEU’s for this course and you can proceed to print out your certificate. LESSONS & QUIZ BELOW