Physiological Measurements: Analysis of Vital Signs and Factors

This report delves into the principles and practical aspects of physiological measurements, crucial for healthcare professionals. It encompasses an in-depth analysis of blood pressure, exploring its maintenance, differentiation between systolic and diastolic readings, normal limits, and associated conditions like hypertension and hypotension. The report also examines body temperature, differentiating between normal ranges, pyrexia, hyper-pyrexia, and hypothermia. Respiratory rates are discussed, including normal ranges and factors influencing them in both healthy and ill individuals. Furthermore, the report covers pulse rate, normal limits, affecting factors, and pulse sites on the body, along with pulse oximetry measurements, analysis, and implications. The principles of body mass index (BMI) are related to weight and dietary control, and the factors influencing changes in physiological measurements are discussed. The importance of undertaking these measurements is also highlighted, along with the necessity for recording psychological measurements and common conditions requiring such recordings. The report is well-structured, providing a comprehensive overview of vital signs and their clinical significance, supported by relevant legislation and guidelines.

UNDERTAKE
PHYSIOLOGICAL
MEASUREMENTS

Table of Contents
OUTCOME 1...................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Legislation, national guidelines, organizational policies and protocols affecting work
practice.........................................................................................................................................1
OUTCOME 2...................................................................................................................................1
2.1(A) Principles of blood pressure to include: Blood pressure maintenance.............................1
2.2(B) Differentiation between diastolic and systolic blood pressure.........................................1
2.3(C) Normal limits of blood pressure.......................................................................................1
2.4(D) Conditions of high or low blood pressure........................................................................2
2.2(B) Normal Body temperature................................................................................................2
2.2(C) Pyrexia, hyper-pyrexia and hypothermia.........................................................................2
2.3(A) Principles of respiratory rates which include Normal respiratory rates...........................2
2.3(B) Factors affecting respiratory rates in ill and well individuals..........................................2
2.4(A) principles of pulse rate include normal pulse rate limits..................................................3
2.4(B) Factors affecting pulse rate...............................................................................................3
2.4(C) Pulse sites on the body.....................................................................................................3
2.4(D) Requirements of pulse oximetry measurements..............................................................4
2.4(E) analyse and implication of pulse oximetry findings.........................................................4
2.5 Principles of body mass index in relation to weight/dietary control.....................................4
2.6 Factors influencing changes in physiological measurements................................................5
2.7 Explain importance of undertaking physiological measurements.........................................5
OUTCOME 3...................................................................................................................................6
5.1 necessity for recording psychological measurements............................................................6
5.2 Common conditions which require recording of psychological measurements....................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

OUTCOME 1
1.1 Legislation, national guidelines, organizational policies and protocols affecting work practice
For psychological measurements there are many standard precautions that are needed to
be taken into account. There are some legislations that should be followed for taking
psychological measurements like:
 Confidentiality- According to the law patients’ details should be kept confidential while
taking their psychological measurements.
 Health and safety Act 1974- Knowledge about health and safety act at work should be
known be all the employees, as it shows employees their responsibilities like work items
should be used correctly etc. (Zingg and et.al., 2015)
 Consents- It is important for health care workers to have patient's consent before
psychological measurements are taken, as patients have rights to withhold or grant
consent.
Blood pressure can be defined as the measure of the force that heart uses to pump blood around
the body.
OUTCOME 2
2.1(A) Principles of blood pressure to include: Blood pressure maintenance
 Normal blood pressure can be maintained by losing excess weight. There is no doubt that
if extra weight pile on then blood pressure also increases.
 Regular exercising releases nitric acid which helps in reducing blood pressure.
 Eating healthy food also helps in reducing blood pressure.
 Too much salt intake should be avoided, as salt is one of the main reason BP increases.
 Smoking and drinking alcohol should also be avoided. These are the two bad habits that
can help in reduction of BP.
2.1(B) Differentiation between diastolic and systolic blood pressure
Diastolic pressure can be defined as the minimum pressure of arteries that occurs at the
starting of cardiac cycle. Systolic pressure can be defined as the peak pressure of arteries that
occurs at the end of cardiac cycle (Lonn and et.al., 2016). The difference between these
pressures is called pulse pressure.
2.1(C) Normal limits of blood pressure
 Normal limits of diastolic pressure: (adults) 60 to 80 mmHg, (children) 65 mmHg
1

 Normal limits of systolic pressure: (adults) 90 to 120 mmHg, (children) 95 to 100 mmHg
2.1(D) Conditions of high or low blood pressure
There are three conditions of blood pressure i.e. hypotension, pre-hypertension and hypertension:
 Hypotension: diastolic reading: less than 60 mmHg, systolic reading: less than 90 mmHg
 Pre-hypertension: diastolic reading: 81 to 90 mmHg, systolic reading: 121 to 140 mmHg
 Hypertension: diastolic reading: over 139 mmHg, systolic reading: over 89 mmHg
2.2(B) Normal Body temperature
Normal body temperature varies for children and adults (Reshetnik and van der Giet,
2018). Based on age normal body temperature is estimated as:
 Children: In babies of children it varies from 36.6°C to 37.2°C
 Adults: In adults it ranges from 36.1°C to 37.2°C
 Adults over age 65: in older adults it is lower than 36.2°C
2.2(C) Pyrexia, hyper-pyrexia and hypothermia
 Pyrexia: It is also known as fever, when body is having temperature above normal range
is called pyrexia. Normally it does not go higher than 41 or 42°C
Hyper-pyrexia: It is another term of very high fever. It is a medical emergency when body
temperature is more than 41.5°C
 Hypothermia: It is a medical emergency which occurs when body loses heat faster than it
produces heat due to which body temperature decreases dangerously low. It occurs when
body temperature is lower than 35°C
2.3(A) Principles of respiratory rates which include Normal respiratory rates
Respiratory rate is the rate at which breathing occurs (Marui and et.al., 2017). It is
normally measured in breaths per minutes and is set by respiratory rate.
 Babies less than 6 weeks: 30 to 40 breaths per minutes
 children less than 6 years: 20 to 30 breaths per minutes
 Adults: 12 to 18 breaths per minutes
 elders above 80 years: 10 to 30 breaths per minutes
2.3(B) Factors affecting respiratory rates in ill and well individuals
There are various factors that affect the respiratory rates in an individual:
 Age: Younger children normally have high oxygen demand so they need to breath faster.
2

 Blood oxygen: blood oxygen normally influences the respiratory rate in individuals. If
the blood oxygen level is lower than 50 then it affects the respiratory rate in an
individual.
 Pain: If a person is in pain then their respiratory rate increases
 Emotions: Emotions also affect the respiratory rate of an individual. Normally it
increases the rate.
 Resistance from air passage: Asthmatic patients normally have increases resistance that
prevents much air from entering the lungs during the respiratory cycle (Perkovic and
Rodgers, 2015). Therefore, their demand for oxygen increases and results in increased
respiratory rate.
 Fever: In fever oxygen demand in body increases which results in increased respiratory
rate.
2.4(A) principles of pulse rate include normal pulse rate limits
Pulse rate also called heart rate is the number of times an individuals' heart beats each
minute. Normal pulse rate normally depends upon the activity lever and age of a person. Pulse
rate is lower when a person is at rest and increases when they exercise and it differs from
children and adults
 Children (age between 6 to 15) normal pulse rate: 70 to 100 beats per minutes.
 Adults (age 18 and above) normal pulse rate: 60 to 100 beats per minutes.
Some medical condition that affect blood pressure are:
 Diabetes damages kidney's filtering system from working normally, which leads to high
blood pressure.
 Thyroid problems such as when thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone
or produce too much thyroid hormone, then it results in high blood pressure.
2.4(B) Factors affecting pulse rate
Factors affecting pulse rate are:
 Emotions of a person can raise their pulse rate
 Terrain: Walking or running uphill also increases a persons' heart rate and walking or
running downhill decreases the heart rate.
 Walking or running with the hill lowers pulse rate and walking or running into the wing
increases the pulse rate (Campelo and et.al. 2017).
3

 Insufficient nutrition increases the heart rate
 Insufficient sleep also increases the pulse rate.
Factors that cause pulse rate to be too high or too low are:
 Overdose of caffeine cause pulse rate to become too high.
 Bleeding is also one of the cause pulse rate to become too high.
 Low thyroid level can cause pulse rate to become too low.
2.4(C) Pulse sites on the body
 Temporal pulse: palpated in front of the ear.
 Carotid pulse found in the neck
 Brachial pulse is felt in the follow arm up inner side.
 Radical pulse is found inside the wrist (thumb side)
 Apical pulse is the pulse taken with the stethoscope
 Femoral pulse is felt on the sides of groin
 popliteal pulse is located behind each knee
2.4(D) Requirements of pulse oximetry measurements
Pulse oximetry is a test that is used to measure oxygen level of the blood. It is a measure
of how oxygen is being supplied to body parts from heart.
It is required to see if there is enough oxygen in the blood. It may be required for many things
like:
 For surgery or procedures of sedations
 to check how lungs medicines are working
 to check a persons' ability to handle increased activity level
 To check whether ventilators are needed for breathing etc.
Acceptable range of blood oxygen level is 80 to 100 mm Hg or 90 to 100%. Level under 75 mm
Hg indicates needs for supplemental oxygen. Oxygen level below 80% can affect the proper
functioning of few organs such as brain and heart.
2.4(E) analyse and implication of pulse oximetry findings
It is used for monitoring a persons' oxygen saturation. It displays the percentage of blood
that is loaded with oxygen. More specifically it is used to measure the percentage of
haemoglobin, protein in blood carrying oxygen is loaded (Yavari and Boric-Lubecke, 2015). It
is mostly used in neonatal care, where stabilization of oxygen is the main asset.
4

Medical conditions that can affect blood oxygen level are: asthma, heart diseases, collapsed
lungs, acute respiratory distress syndrome etc.
Measures that should be taken in case of unacceptable results of blood oxygen level are: if it is
low then it should be boosted with supplemental oxygen. Medications like home supplemental
oxygen should be considered after prescription of a doctor.
2.5 Principles of body mass index in relation to weight/dietary control
Body mass index is a measure that uses weight and height of an individual to work out if
weight of a person is healthy. Normal BMI in adults ranges from 18.5 to 24.9. If a person BMI
is:
 Below 18.5: Person is in underweight range
 Between 18.5 to 24.9: person is in healthy weight range
 Between 25 to 29.9: person is in over weight range
 Between 30 to 39.9: person is in obese range
If an individual is in over-weight or obese range then they need lose weight in order to
bring their body mass index in healthy range. For this they can do regular physical activities in
order to lose weight which also helps in reducing high blood pressure. Person can also follow
some diets to lose weight. There are various many other options through which one can lose
weight but it cannot be guaranteed that they are healthy ways to lose weight.
If person BMI is low then a proper diet plan can be prepared. It will be helpful in eating
meal accordingly and increasing weight. By increasing sugar content in body, BP can be
maintained. It will help in balanced BMI in individual.
2.6 Factors influencing changes in physiological measurements
There are several factors which can influence change. It depends on person health
condition. The factors are described below :-
Genetic conditions – It plays a vital role in influencing measurements. Women experience
hormonal changes more frequently as compared to men. This is due to menstrual cycle that
occurs in them. Also, males have high blood pressure in their body than females of same age.
Heredity- This is a another factor that influence changes (ems/the-importance-of-vital-
signs.html (Zingg and et.al., 2015 ). It can transfer heredity from parent to children. So, it
influences changes in hormones, genes, etc.
5

Lifestyle – The adoption of lifestyle plays major role in it. for instance, cigarette smoking,
drinking, etc. can highly impact on lungs, liver, etc. creating imbalance in heart rate. Also, it
effect on stress, exercise, etc.
Environmental factors- Any change in atmosphere directly effect on heart rate, body
temperature, etc. this can result in occurring of respiratory problems such as infection or lung
disease.
Dietary factors- A diet taken by person influences his or her measurements. Eating more sweets
lead to high sugar content in blood. It will rise sugar level which result in increase in blood
pressure.
2.7 Explain importance of undertaking physiological measurements
It is very important to record vital signs of person so that it gives an overview about
overall health condition of person. Basically, there are four components in it that includes BP,
pulse, temperature and respiratory rate (The importance of vital signs. 2007). It indicates person
physiological state and what person is capable of experiencing care. This helps in giving
information about what protocols must be used in saving life of person. The information can be
analyzed providing treatment. Moreover, it can assist in narrowing problem. besides this, it
becomes easy for nurse or doctor to take essential measures and offering effective care to person.
However, it becomes easy for doctor to analyze from which factor patient is suffering and how it
can be treated (Lonn and et.al., 2016). The accurate and documented physiological
measurements are necessary part of EMS. Alongside it, already recording is beneficial in
providing assistance in how deficiencies can be improved. By measuring it changes can be
observed in a particular period of time. Through this, it supports in writing diet plan.
Taking physiological measurement in my care helps in identifying individual BP, pulse
rate, etc. Also, overall information is obtained regarding physical health. then, accordingly care
services are provided. The physiological measurement gives a brief description about individual
health problem and taking essential measures. It is easy for doctor and nurse to give necessary
treatment to patient.
OUTCOME 3
6

5.1 necessity for recording psychological measurements
Psychological measurements are necessary tools to measure and observe patient’s
behaviour for diagnosis and treatment. There are many reasons these measurements are
important as:
 Is also used to measure people’s characteristics and personalities. Can be used for testing
body mass index of a person, personality test, IQ test, etc.
 It is also necessary to check the healthiness of a person by measurement of various
aspects like measurement of pulse rate whether it is normal or not, checking blood
pressure of a person whether it is normal or not or checking body temperature of a person
is normal or not.
 All these measurements define the healthiness of a person and also helps in treating the
person so that these factors do not become the cause of any other disease or any other
problem.
 Like measurement of pulse rate is important at the time of surgeries as well as for
procedure of sedations (Reshetnik and van der Giet, 2018). It is also important when
need of ventilators are needed to be checked.
 If these factors are not treated in time and correctly then it can lead to some potentially
serious health problems.
It is important of record an individual's physiological measurements because it gives an
indication of patients physiological state.
5.2 Common conditions which require recording of psychological measurements
There are various conditions that need recording of psychological measurement like:
 It can be used to record the heart activity through ECG module in order to detect
possibilities of heart attack.
 It can also be used to measure respiration rate and for measures to control it. If not
controlled then it can lead to diseases like asthma etc.
 Blood pressure monitoring also requires psychological measurement as high blood
pressure can lead to major problems like heart attack.
Some medical conditions that can affect an individual's physiological measurements in various
ways are:
7

 Inability of lungs that perform breathing for extended period can affect in reduction of
alveolar ventilations to meet the demand of the body.
 Diabetes can increase the blood pressure of the body.
8

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Campelo, S. and et.al. 2017. An evaluation of irreversible electroporation thresholds in human
prostate cancer and potential correlations to physiological measurements. APL
Bioengineering, 1(1), p.016101.
Lonn, E.M. and et.al., 2016. Blood-pressure lowering in intermediate-risk persons without
cardiovascular disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 374(21). pp.2009-2020.
Marui, S. and et.al., 2017. Assessment of axillary temperature for the evaluation of normal body
temperature of healthy young adults at rest in a thermoneutral environment. Journal of
physiological anthropology. 36(1). p.18.
Okumura, E., Shutoh, F. and Yamanaka, T., 2018, March. Investigation of Physiological
Measurements During Evaluation of Pattern Goodness. In International Conference on
Kansei Engineering & Emotion Research (pp. 389-398). Springer, Singapore.
Perkovic, V. and Rodgers, A., 2015. Redefining blood-pressure targets—SPRINT starts the
marathon.
Reshetnik, A. and van der Giet, M., 2018. Response to discussion about blood pressure monitor
validation studies. Blood pressure monitoring. 23(4). pp.215-216.
Yavari, E. and Boric-Lubecke, O., 2015. Channel imbalance effects and compensation for
Doppler radar physiological measurements. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory
and Techniques, 63(11), pp.3834-3842.
Zingg, W. and et.al., 2015. Hospital organisation, management, and structure for prevention of
health-care-associated infection: a systematic review and expert consensus. The Lancet
Infectious Diseases. 15(2). pp.212-224.
Online
The importance of vital signs. 2007. [online] Available Through : <
https://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-160/issue-10/departments/fire-service-
ems/the-importance-of-vital-signs.html >
9