High blood pressure can cause heart and kidney failures, strokes, coronary diseases, and many other problems.
Low blood pressure can be caused by severe bleeding, inflammations of organs and dehydration.
Pulse rate
The number of times your heart beats in a minute is known as your heart rate, and your pulse measures the rate of your heart and show’s how hard it is beating.
The best place to measure your pulse is where the artery is closest to the skin. For example, the neck, wrist, top of the foot and more. But the most common is the wrist (radial pulse). You place two fingers on top and you can feel the heartbeat.
The normal average heart rate range is between 60-90. If your pulse is higher than 90, you are suffering from a condition called tachycardia which means increased heart rate.
It can be very dangerous f your pulse rate is very low. This condition is known as bradycardia. And it can be due to weakness and loss of energy from your body.
Factors that influence heart rate are temperatures, positions of body and size, and emotions.
Swelling of ankles – Oedema
Oedema means build up of fluid, peripheral edema, in the ankles, feet and legs.
It’s proceeded to see whether a patient circulatory is working through their legs. You can identify if someone has oedema by their common causes. For instance, prolonged standing to long airplane flights or menstrual periods for some women to becoming over weight or increase in age.
To find out if you have oedema, push down carefully your finger in the swollen section and see if it sinks. If it does not sink in and rises back up again than you do not have oedema, however if the swollen fraction stays down and then rises up slowly and back to how it was before you have oedema.
However swelling of the feet is a common problem for the elderly and swelling is noticeable in the locations of the thighs and lower leg. Swollen legs can also be a sign of heart, liver or kidney failure. In these conditions there is a huge build up of fluid in the body. Other conditions include; leg infections, venous insufficiency, normal burns and sun burns, bites of insects or stings, malnutrition or starvation, blood clots or surgery to your leg or foot.
Symptoms of oedema are: puffiness of the face, eyes and ankles, skin that sinks for a few seconds after being pressed, stiff joints and aching body parts, weight gain and loss, rised blood pressure, pulse rate and fuller hand and neck veins
For the respiratory measurements, I will be talking about breathing rate, peak flow and stethoscope
Breathing rate
Breathing rate is usually known as respiratory rate. It’s the amount and number of breaths a person inhales in a minute.
When a person is in a comfortable position and breathes normally, the rate can be measured by counting the amount of times the person’s chest rises. 15-20 breaths a minute is an average and a normal rate for an adult.
Fever, Pneumonia, Pain, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and many other diseases can cause Tachypnea. Tachypnea means increased respiratory rate, when breathing faster than 15-20 breaths per minute.
Bradypnea means decrease of breathing, the opposite to Tachypnea.
Alcohol, drug use, morphine are just some of the causes that create Bradypnea to take place.
Peak flow
Peak flow is done to measure the rate of how fast a person can exhale air. Peak flow, just like many other tests, measures the function of the airways which are commonly affected by diseases. For example, COPD or asthma.
You need an expiratory flow monitor, a small hand held device with a mouth piece and a scale with a moveable indicator. For the process you breathe in as deeply as you can and blow into the mouthpiece as quick as possible. You will need to do these three times to observe the results and record the highest flow rate. If results are within 20% of your normal capacity, no special care is needed. You should evaluate the measurements with your usual results and if they drop 20% down below your average, medication or medical help orders will be given from your doctor and you have to be sure to follow them.
Stethoscope
A stethoscope is used to hear the heart sounds and breathing sounds, determine abnormal sounds with in them and see how they are functioning.
Before doing this, jewelry and clothing should be removed from where the procedure will be done. You than place the chest piece near the patients chest and place a finger against the chest piece and hear. To pick up sounds accurately, you must ensure that the ear piece is situated in your eat properly and not loose.
Sounds of heart beat and air passing through the air passages can be heard and also pay attention to any obstructive substances such as phlegm. If there are any signs of obstructive material than medical help or your doctor’s guidance should be received