Vital signs terms

An agent that reduces fever

Temporary cessation of breathing and, therefore, of the body's intake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide.

Irregularity or loss of rhythm, esp. of the heart

The tension exerted on the walls of arteries by the strength of the contraction of the heart; the resistance of arterioles and capilaries; the elasticity of blood vessels

A slow hearbeat marked by a pulse rate below 60 beats per minute in an adult

Abnormally slow breathing

The amount of blood discharged from the left or right ventricle per minute.

Events that occur at approx. 24 hour intervals, such as certain physiological phenomena.

• Diastolic blood pressure, represented by the
• bottom number in a blood pressure reading, is when your heart
• is resting.

Difficulty in breathing, often associated with lung or heart disease and resulting in shortness of breath. Also called air hunger

Perspiration especially when copious and medically induced.

Expulsion of air from the lungs in breathing.

Normal, unimpaired respiration

refers to a condition in which the patient has an elevated temperature but despite investigations by a physician no explanation has been found.

An elevation of body temperature that is markedly abnormal. May be caused by hot baths, diathermy, or hot air

A condition in which the BP is higher then 140 mmHg systolic or 90 mm Hg diastolic on three seperate readings recorded several weeks apart

Body temperature elevated above the normal range; an unusually high fever

A decrease of the systolic and diastolic blood pressure to below normal.

Decreased Oxygen tension (oxygen concentration) of arterial blood, meaured by arterial oxygen partial pressures values.

Inhalation; drawing air into the lungs

Sounds heard in ausculation of blood pressure

Labored breathing that occurs when lying flat and improves when standing or sitting

Interarticular fibrocartilage of crescent shape, found in certain joints, especially the lateral and medial meniscui

A fall in blood pressure that occurs on standing up after lying down.

Rate, rhythm, condition of arterial walls, compressibility and tension, and size and shpae of the fluid wave of blood traveling through the arteries as a result of each heartbeat

• The difference between the heart rate and the palpable
• pulse, as is often seen in atrial
• fibrillation.

The difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Fever

Any agent that causes fever

The interchange of gases between an organism and the medium in which it lives

An instrument for determining arterial blood pressure indirectly

A high-pitched harsh sound occuring during inspiration, often heard without the use of a stethescope

Changes in the amount of blood ejected from the left ventricle into the aorta with each heartbeat

Systolic blood pressure

Rapid breathing

The degree of hotness or coldness of a substance

the volume of gas inhaled and exhaled during one respiratory cycle

The pulse rate, temperature, and respiratory rate of an individual.

• the place where the apical pulse is palpated as strongest, often in the fifth
• intercostal space of the thorax, just medial to the left midclavicular line.