English for Nursing 1

Topic 11

CHECKING VITAL SIGNS

Instructional objective
The students are expected to be able:
1. to pronunce well vocabularies relating to vital signs, and
2. to act out the practice and therapeutic communication when checking patient’s
vital signs.
3. to write a report of client’s health problems and diagnosis.

Reading
Direction. Read the nursing note below and get some useful informations regarding checking vital
signs. Then, answer the following questions.

NURSING NOTE
Vital signs are measurements of the body's most basic functions. 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 (Blood pressure is not considered a vital sign, but is often
measured along with the vital signs.)
Vital signs 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. (Source: hopekinsmedicine.org)

Questions:
1. What are the four main vital signs?
2. What is the importance of checking vital signs?

Related Vocabularies
Direction. The followings are the vocabularies related to checking vital signs. Practice the
pronunciation. Complete the blanks of some words with the proper pronunciation.
A. Needed Equipment

1
 Thermometer Stethoscope Sphygmomanometer
/…................./ /…...................../ /…................................/

Alcohol Watch Tray

/…............/ /….............../ /…....../

B. Verbs
1. Measure /............../ : mengukur
2. Count /................/ : menghitung
3. Feel /fēl/ : merasakan
4. Put /............/ : meletakkan
5. Insert /............../ : memasukkan

C. Nouns
1. Temperature /.........................../ : suhu
2. Blood Pressure /............................../ : tekanan darah
3. Respiration /............................./ : pernapasan
4. Pulse rate /.............................../ : denyut nadi

D. Adjective
1. Comfortable /............................./ : nyaman
2. Funny /................/ : lucu

Useful Expressions
Direction. Study the following useful expressions.
A. Greeting
 Hi, Beth. How are you?
 Good morning, Sir.

B. Self-Introduction
 My name is Marry.
 I am Nurse Shanti. I will take care of you today.

C. Explaining what you are going to

do  I am here to check your vital
 I am here to .... signs.
 I am going to ....  I am going to measure your blood
pressure.

2
  It is time for me to count your
 It is time for me to .... pulse.
 I need to check your temperature.
 I need to ....  I want to put this cuff around your
 I want to .... arm.
 I just want to insert this
 I just want to ... thermometer into your armpit.

D. Giving questions
 Do you ...............?  Do you feel dizzy?
 Do you feel nausea?
 Are you ......?  Are you comfortable?

E. Giving instructions during the

implementation
 (V1) ............
 Would/Could/Can you ...............?
 Would you mind ............?
 I want you to ............
 Open your mouth.
 Raise your arm.
 Roll your sleeve up.
 Give me your right/left* hand.
 Unbutton your shirt please.
 Would you open your mouth?
 Could you raise your arm?
 Can you roll your sleeve up?
 Would you mind opening your
mouth?
 Would you mind raising your
arm?
 Would you mind rolling your
sleeve up?

 I want you to lie down on the

couch.
 I want you to lie flat on the bed.

F. Nurse responses
 Ok, fine. That’s it.
 Fine.
 Good.
 All is done.
 Finished.

3
Listening Exercise
Direction. Accomplish the following conversation by listening to the audio file on UFLearn. Then, act out
the dialogue.

Nurse : Mrs. Jackson, I’m just going to do (1) ..............................

I want to start off (2) .............................. just to make sure that everything’s
okay.
Patient : I see.
Nurse : So, I’m going (3) ..............................
Then I’ll pump some air into it, so I can read your blood pressure.
How does that feel? Okay?
Patient : It feels a bit funny.
Nurse : Does it? Never mind. It’ll be over in a second or two.
Patient : Is it okay? My pressure I mean?
Nurse : Yes, (4) ..............................
Now we’ll just (5) ..............................
Can you pop this in your mouth, under your tongue?
Good.
And while you’re doing that I’ll just take your pulse.

(The conversations were taken from English for Professional Nurses 1 written by Leo A.
Pamudya.)

Nursing Communication Practice

Direction. Work in pair. Write a nurse-patient conversation of checking a patient’s vital signs. Submit
your conversation scenario on UFLearn. Then, practice the conversation together. You are not allowed
to read aloud the scenario.