Vital Signs Competency
Competency Skill 7-3: Taking an Oral Temperature
Performance Objective: The student will take and record a patient’s oral temperature.
Grading Criteria:
1
2
0
Student meets criteria without assistance
Student did not perform according to stated criteria
Criteria
Sanitized hands, applied gloves
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Self
Peer
Instructor Comments
Set up necessary equipment for
procedure (thermo, pen, paper)
Removed thermometer probe,
ensuring unit turns on
Covered thermometer probe with
plastic sheath
Identified patient and explained
procedure
Placed probe under the tongue
and instructed patient to close lips
until you remove it
Removed thermometer probe and
discarded the sheath when
indicated
Report & record reading and
indicated whether reading was
within normal limits 98.6° +/- 1.0°
Disinfected and stored equipment
appropriately
Removed gloves, sanitized hands
TOTAL
Practice:
Date
Time
Patient
Reading
WNL?
Mosby items and derived items © 2007 by Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc.
2
Competency Skill 7-2: Taking a Blood Pressure Reading
Practice:
Date
Time
Patient
Palp BP
Reading
Mosby items and derived items © 2007 by Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc.
WNL? N,
P, H?
3
Competency Skill 7-2: Taking a Blood Pressure Reading
Performance Objective: The student will take and record a patient’s blood pressure.
Grading Criteria:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
2
0
Student meets criteria without assistance
Student did not perform according to stated criteria
Criteria
Sanitized hands, applied gloves
Self
Peer
Instructor Comments
Set up necessary equipment for
procedure
Identified patient and explained
procedure
Positioned patient in an upright or
lying position with upper arm exposed
and supported
Placed BP cuff 1 inch above
antecubital space
Palpated radial artery
Tightened thumbscrew and inflated
cuff until pulse disappeared for
approximate systolic reading
(AKA Palpable Blood Pressure)
Deflated cuff and allowed arm to rest
for 30 seconds
Cleaned earplugs of stethoscope and
positioned them in ears
Located brachial pulse and placed
diaphragm of stethoscope on location
of pulse
Tightened thumbscrew and inflated
cuff 20 to 30 mm Hg above Palpable
BP
Deflated cuff slowly and noted systolic
and diastolic pulse readings
Record & report reading and indicated
whether BP is within normal limits
N≤119/79 PrehyperT=120-139/80-89
HyperT≥140/90
Disinfected and stored equipment
appropriately
Removed gloves, sanitized hands
TOTAL
Mosby items and derived items © 2007 by Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc.
4
Competency Skill 7-6: Taking a Radial Pulse and Measuring Respiration
Performance Objective: The student will take and record a patient’s radial pulse and respirations.
Grading Criteria:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2
0
Student meets criteria without assistance
Student did not perform according to stated criteria
Criteria
Self
Sanitized hands, applied gloves
Set up necessary equipment for procedure
(watch, pen, paper)
Identified patient and explained pulse
procedure
Positioned two fingertips (not thumb) over
the radial artery
Counted pulse for 30 seconds
Peer
Instr Comments
While keeping fingers positioned on radial
artery, and without informing patient,
counted respirations for 30 seconds
(1 rise+1 fall=1 resp)
Record & report rate (bpm) & character of
pulse. Character= tachy (>100bpm), brady
(<60bpm), bounding, thready, etc
Record & report rate (rpm) & character of
respirations Character=full, shallow, rapid,
labored, etc
Indicated whether readings were within
normal range
HR=60-100bpm, Resp=14-20rpm
Removed gloves, sanitized hands
TOTAL
Practice:
Date
Time Patient
Heart
rate
(bpm)
Character
WNL?
Resp
rate
(rpm)
Character WNL?
Mosby items and derived items © 2007 by Mosby, Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc.