Vital Signs pt 2

Respirations: Respirations is just a fancy way to say how many times someone breathes per minute. Now, an healthy adult will breathe approximately 12-20 times each minute. But as you grow up from new born to an adult, you will expect to see different respiration rates that are normal for a particular age range. I will attach a chart that shows you the differences between how much you breathe when you are young compared to now. The way to measure someone's respiration rate is to look at their chest, and count the amount of times the chest rises and falls within a minute. Pretty simple- right? Here is that chart, as promised...



Oxygen saturation levels: Oxygen saturation levels sounds like something that is super hard to find. However, it is the easiest vital sign to record. What you have to do is attach the oxygen monitor to your finger, or other places like your inner thigh, and big toe. Once attached and in place, you can turn on the monitor. When you turn it on you want to look for a wave length to form. If there is no wave then you do not have the correct information, and should try adjusting the monitor. However, once you do see the wave you just record the percentage that you see. 98 to 100 percent is healthy and normal. You will see in smokers that their O2 stats are much lower than a non smoker. The second graph, in the yellow, shows us a healthy oxygen sat level, and how the wave should look. (Note that the monitor had not shown the level because it had not finished reading it, but the wavelength should look like this).



Heart Rate: Heart rate is something I think a lot of people know how to take, and what it is. It is the amount of times your heart beats in a minute. To measure heart rate you firmly place two fingers on a place where an artery resides. Like, your wrist, in between your upper and lower arm, your inner thigh, your neck, etc. When you can feel your pulse, you count the number of times you felt it in the minute. The normal rate for a heart rate can very widely from person to person. It depends on your age, physical status, and gender.

I hope this was informational, and you learned a few things. Happy and healthy vital signs to all!