Yulia Indri

Febriani
1021032048

CHECKING VITAL SIGNS

Instructional objective

The students are expected to be able:

1. to pronunce well vocabularies relating to vital signs,
2. to act out the practice and therapeutic communication when checking patient’s
vital signs, and
3. to write a nursing documentation after checking a patient’s vital signs.

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?
Answer:
 Body temperature
 Pulse rate
 Respiration rate (rate of breathing)

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  Blood pressure

2. What is the importance of checking vital signs?

Answer:
Vital signs are useful in detecting or monitoring medical problems.

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

Thermometer Stethoscope Sphygmomanometer

/ termomeder / / steteskowp / / spigmomenomeder /

Alcohol Watch Tray

/ elkohol / / wach / / trey /

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

C. Nouns
1. Temperature / temprecer / : suhu
2. Blood Pressure / blad presyer / : tekanan darah
3. Respiration / respresyen / : pernapasan
4. Pulse rate / pels reyt / : denyut nadi

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

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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 signs.
 I am here to ....  I am going to measure your blood
 I am going to .... pressure.
 It is time for me to count your pulse.
 I need to check your temperature.
 It is time for me to ....  I want to put this cuff around your
arm.
 I need to ....  I just want to insert this
 I want to .... thermometer into your armpit.

 I just want to ...

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) ............  Open your mouth. (putting a
thermometer into patient’s mouth)
 Raise your arm. (inserting a
thermometer into patient’s arm pit)
 Roll your sleeve up. (wrapping
manometer’s cuff)
 Give me your right/left* hand.
(counting patient’s pulse)
 Unbutton your shirt please. (using
stethoscope on patient’s chest)

 Would/Could/Can you ...............?

 Would you open your mouth?

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  Could you raise your arm?
 Can you roll your sleeve up?
 Would you mind ........... ?
 Would you mind opening your
mouth?
 Would you mind raising your arm?
 Would you mind rolling your sleeve
up?
 I want you to ............
 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.

G. Telling the measurements

 Temperature  Your temperature is thirty seven degree

centigrade. (370C)
 It’s normal.
 Your temperature is thirty eight
degree Celsius. (380C)
 You are running a temperature.*
 You have a temperature.*

*The temperature is higher than normal.

 Blood pressure  Your blood pressure is one hundred

twenty over eighty (120/80).
 It is within normal limits
 Your blood pressure is one hundred
forty over one hundred ten (140/110).
 You have a hypertension.

 Pulse rate  Your pulse rate is eighty times per

minute (80x/minute).
 It is normal.

 Respiration  Your respiration is thirty two times per

minute (32x/minute).

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  It is abnormal.

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) some routine test
I want to start off (2) with your blood pressure just to make sure that
everything’s okay.
Patient : I see.
Nurse : So, I’m going (3) to wrap this arround your arm
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) everything is perfectly normal
Now we’ll just (5) take your temperature
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.

Patient: Good morning.

Nurse : Good morning. Have a seat, please.

Patient: Thanks.
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Nurse: So, what brings you here?

Patient: I’ve got a fever and sore throat since yesterday.

Nurse: Okay. Let me check your body temperature.

Patient: All right.

Nurse: Would you please put the thermometer under your arm?

Patient: Ok.

Nurse: Your body temperature is 39.2° C. It means you have moderate fever. Now, I would like
you to relax as I am checking your pulse and respiration rate.

Patient: Okay

Nurse: Good. Next, I am going to wrap this cuff around your arm and pump it to read your blood
pressure.

Patient: Would it hurt?

Nurse: No, just relax, okay.

Patient: Okay.

Nurse: Good. Could you please open your mouth and say “aaah” so I could check your throat?

Patient: Aaah

Nurse: Okay. So, your pulse rate is 80 per minute, your respiration rate is 16 per minute, and
your blood pressure is 120/80.

Patient: What does it mean?

Nurse: It means that your vital signs are normal. There is nothing to be worried about.

Patient: Oh thank God.

Nurse: I am going to prescribe you vitamin and some medicines to ease your fever and sore
throat.

Patient: Okay.

Nurse: Don’t forget to take a rest and drink a lot of water.

Patient: I will. Thank you so much.

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 Nursing Documentation
Direction. Write a nursing documentation after checking patient’s vital signs. You can
refer to the questions below for jotting down what you have to write.
1. Mention the patient’s identity.
2. What is the patient’s temperature? (0C)
3. What is the patient’s pulse rate? (X/minute)
4. What is the patient’s respiration? (X/minute)
5. What is the patient’s blood pressure?
6. Mention the nurse’s name.
7. Mention the day, date, and time of the injection.

Patient identity
Name : Mrs. A Age : 21 years old
Result :
Temperature : 39,20C
Blood pressure : 120/80x/minute
Pulse : 80x/minute
Respiration rate : 16x/minute
Time :
16.00 PM
Day, date :
Saturday, 4th
Assessor :
Yulia Indri Febriani