What is a Vital Signs Monitor?

By Noah Lam - 2007-02-15 - Viewed 1845 times. Find more articles like this in our Disability Products category.

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In general, when you have a doctor’s visit, the nurse or doctor always seem to take your Blood Pressure, Pulse, Temperature and sometimes your Pulse Oximetry. Usually the healthcare professional would use 4 diagnostic instruments to measure these vital signs

Your blood pressure usually refers to the systemic arterial blood pressure, which is the pressure exerted by the blood against the blood vessel walls such as the brachial artery in your arm. The health practitioner reads the systolic and diagnostic pressures

With a sphgymanometer measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg). The systolic pressure is the peak pressure during the cardiac cycle and the diastolic is the resting pressure during the cardiac cycle. In general a healthy adult has a 120 mmHg systolic and 80 mmHg diastolic. Changes in weight, diet, stress, disease or medicine can alter the blood pressure level.

The pulse is the effect when the heart is contracting. This throbbing can be felt in many places but your doctor usually takes the measurement at your wrist or neck. A health adults pulse rate can range from 40 beats per minute (BPM) to 60-100 BPM at rest to 200-220 BPM during exercise.

Normal human body temperature is typically 98.6 degrees farenheit. Your doctor usually takes the measurement orally under the tongue or another body cavity with a thermometer. Body temperatures can vary from where your reside. If your temperature is above the normal indicating that you have a fever and you might be fighting an infection.

Sometimes your physician wants to monitor the oxygenation of your blood. They use a non-invasive product called a Pulse Oximeter. A sensor is placed on a thin part of the body such as the finger so that a red and an infared light can pass through the body part. The difference in the absorbance of the 2 wavelengths can measure the amount of oxygen you have in your blood.

Currrent technology allows a single unit to encompass all of these measurement in to a single Spot Vital Signs Monitor. These units can monitor your vital signs over a period of time and keep track of the history of those measurements. Some are wall mounted or placed on a mobile stand with casters for easy mobility from room to room.

Noah Lam has over 15 years of experience of providing high quality medical supplies and healthcare products from Acute Care Facilities to parents and children. His company, CWI Medical is a leading provider of Vital Signs Monitoring to healthcare facilities and for home use. In addition, CWI Medical is an ACHC Accredited organization maintaining standards of excellence in the Healthcare Field. For more information, please visit CWI Medical

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