Vital Signs Skills Lab

As an introductory skill development lab, we were fortunate enough to be visited by St. Luke Alumni and Emergency Medical Technicians, Allie Dixon and Zack Mccleery last Wednesday, August 18, 2021. They supplied us with valuable skills on how to take vital signs and to effectively use the information we gathered to treat an incoming patient. Most interesting for myself, was learning how to manually take a patients blood pressure using a blood pressure cuff (sphygmomanometer) and a stethoscope. I was able to practice on my classmate, Maggie Blastingame. I placed the blood pressure cuff above her elbow with the inside of her arm facing me. I pumped the cuff until the sphygmomanometer's dial read 180, stopping blood flow in the forearm. I then proceeded to let the air out of the cuff. I recorded when I heard the blood begin to rush into the forearm to get my systolic pressure number. Systolic pressure is the numerator in a blood pressure fraction and tells the medical professional how much pressure your blood is under when the heart contracts. When I no longer heard the blood rushing, I recorded the number from the dial. This number is called diastolic and records the blood pressure when the heart is not contracted. They also taught how to take a pulse from the various different points including the neck, upper arm, wrist, and ankle. We were given the average Heart Rates, Respiration Rates, and Blood Pressure of neonates (newborn-1 months), infants (1-12 months), toddlers (1-2 years), preschoolers (3-5), school age children (6-11), adolescents (12-15), and adults (puberty+).Our visitors were extremely helpful and kind to give us such valuable skills and information about vital signs.