Sinais Vitais

As part of the NA401 Foundation Skills for Nursing, I undertook a clinical simulation of 10 minutes and was required to assess and record the patient’s vital signs Pulse and Respiration. Vital Signs are fundamental part of practice care, as it can direct the body’s ability on maintaining they natural function, they are essential in revealing any changes that could give indication of clinical deterioration of the patient state. Observation Chart for the national Early Warning Score (2012) was used to record and report the observations correctly. All nurses are required to conserve an up to date records of all assessments to enable the ongoing care of patients as mentioned in the NMC Code of practice (NMC, 2015). I have chosen the Driscoll Model to reflect my clinical experience relating my critical thoughts in theory to practice (Driscoll, 2007).The confidentially of the patient have been preserved and a fiction name of Ronnie have been given to respect the privacy and dignity of the patient following the NMC guidelines Code (NMC, 2015).

According to the nine controlled studies it proved that the importance of hand hygiene ‘showed significant reductions in infection related outcomes, even in settings with a high infection rates in critically ill patients’ (NCBI, 2010). So prior to seeing my patient I followed the 6 step of hand hygiene to prevent cross- infection between us and applied alcohol gel prior and after each contact. Following this, I introduced myself and discussed the purpose of the consultation and procedure. After ensuring the patient was comfortable, I then located the radial artery by placing my first two fingers with appropriate pressure until I could fell the pulse and count for 1 minute to detect the rate, rhythm and amplitude. The normal pulse rate per minute at adult age ranges from 55-90 as published in the manual of Clinical Nursing Procedure (Lisa Dougherty and Sara Lister, 2011). Ronnie had a regular sequence of beats producing a regular heart rhythm, this was due to the ability of cardiac muscle to contract inherently without nervous control ( Marieb 2014).

Following this, I carried out the respiration assessment for further 60 seconds making careful observation on the rise and fall of chest, the patterns of breathing and depth of breaths as well as assessing the patients skin colour and mucous membrane as this can show how well perfused and oxygenated they are ( Higginson and Jones 2009).Ronnie wished to have their results, so by knowing the normal range is around 12-20 breaths per minute (Chris Brooker and Maggie Nicol 2011) I was able to confirm that the finding were within the normal range having the rhythm and depth as normal.

During the procedure I felt confident throughout the process as I had taken extra class prior practice to improve my understanding. I was however, anxious before practice as it was my first assessed practical. Despite that, I was able to conduct the observations calmly and smoothly providing a professional and ethical approach to Ronnie as well as keeping any transmission of infection under control. On the whole, the assessment was a great, I felt satisfied with my performance which boosted my confidence to carry out this procedure more times. I believe to have meet the criteria efficiently, keeping in mind all the health and safety learned. I was able to find the pulse easily, and subsequently, I was able to count the number of breaths without making