Hesperian Health Guides
How to Take Temperature, Pulse, Respiration, and Blood Pressure
HealthWiki > Where Women Have No Doctor > Health Care Skills > How to Take Temperature, Pulse, Respiration, and Blood Pressure
Contents
Temperature
If you need to know a personās temperature and do not have a thermometer, touch the back of your hand to the personās skin, and compare it with your own skin. If their skin feels much warmer, they probably have a fever. Learn what to do for a fever.
If you have a thermometer, you can take a personās temperature in the mouth, armpit, or rectum. A personās temperature is normally cooler in the armpit, warmer in the mouth, and warmest in the rectum. There are 2 kinds of thermometer scales. Here is how they compare. Either can be used to measure a personās temperature.
Use a digital thermometer
Glass thermometers are filled with mercury, a poisonous metal. Be careful with glass thermometers, and if they break, do not pick up the mercury with your bare hands. Sweep the mercury into a jar and bury it. Do not let children play with thermometers or mercury. Use a digital thermometer instead.
How to take the temperature
- Clean the thermometer well with soap and cold water, or alcohol. For a digital thermometer, push the button to turn it on. For a mercury thermometer, hold it at the end without the silver (or red) and shake it hard, with a snap of the wrist, until it reads less than 36Ā°C / 96Ā°F.
- Put the thermometer . . .
- Leave it there for 3 or 4 minutes. The digital thermometer will ābeepā when it is ready.
- Read it (see above).
- Wash the thermometer well with soap and cold water. Then wipe it with alcohol and put it away.
| under the tongue (keep the mouth closed around it) |  |
OR | in the armpit if there is danger that the person might bite the thermometer |  |
Pulse (heartbeat)
The pulse tells how fast the heart is beating and how hard it is working. After hard work or exercise, the heart of a healthy person beats fast, but slows back to normal in a few minutes. The heart usually increases 20 beats a minute for each degree (Ā°C) rise in fever.
A normal pulse in an adult is between 60 and 90 beats per minute. A fast pulse can be a sign of:
- blood loss or fluid loss, or shock.
- fever and infection.
- problems with the lungs and breathing system, or with the heart.
- thyroid problems.
| To take the pulse, put your fingers on the wrist as shown (do not use your thumb). | If you cannot find the pulse in the wrist, feel for it in the neck under the corner of the jaw, | or put your ear directly on the chest and listen for the heartbeat. |
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It can help to have someone else keep track of a minute for you on a watch, clock or phone while you focus on counting the number of heartbeats.
Respiration (breathing rate)
The breathing rate tells you about health of the lungs and breathing system. It can also give information about a personās general health. To take the breathing rate, watch the chest rise and fall when a person is at rest. Normal breathing in an adult is 12 to 20 total breaths per minute (a complete breath equals one breath in and one breath out).
Breathing usually speeds up (along with the pulse) when there is infection, fever, blood loss or dehydration, shock, lung problems, or other emergencies.
Very slow pulse and breathing in a very sick person can mean the person is near death.
Fast, shallow breathing can be a sign of infection of the breathing system. A breathing rate of more than 30 breaths per minute may be a sign of pneumonia.
Blood pressure
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Blood pressure is a measure of how hard the blood presses on the inside of the blood vessels.
It is useful to know blood pressure:
- during pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, or abortion.
- while choosing or using birth control pills.
- in emergencies, such as shock, severe abdominal pain, or a difficult childbirth.
What the numbers mean
A blood pressure measurement (BP) has two numbers:
or | 120 is the top (systolic) reading |
| 80 is the bottom (diastolic) reading |
Normal blood pressure for an adult is from 90/60 to 120/80.
If a person has blood pressure in this range, there is no need to worry. If the blood pressure is between 120/80 and 140/90, a person should exercise more and eat less salt. If the blood pressure is over 140/90, the person also needs to take medicines. A person who has diabetes or heart disease should take medicine if the blood pressure is over 130/80.
For blood pressure over 140/90 during pregnancy, see a health worker for medicines that are safe to use when pregnant.
A sudden drop in blood pressure is a danger sign, especially if it falls below 90/60. Watch for any sudden drop in the blood pressure of persons who are losing blood or at risk of shock. If you get an abnormal blood pressure reading and you do not think the person is in shock, wait a few minutes and take the blood pressure again.
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Blood pressure goes up and down a little from month to month. This is normal. |
You will often need to watch a personās blood pressure over time (for example, during pregnancy) to see how it changes. It will help to keep a record:
How to take blood pressure
There are several types of blood pressure equipment.
| Some have a tall gauge that looks like a thermometer. | Others have a round dial. | Electronic ones are easy to use. |
gauge
blood pressure cuff |
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| First explain what you are going to do. To avoid wrong results, make sure the person has not exercised or had coffee in the previous 30 minutes, and have them sit at rest for 5 minutes, before you measure. Then: | |||
| 1. Fasten the cuff around the bare upper arm about 2 finger widths above the elbow crease. |  |
2. Close the valve on the rubber bulb by turning the screw to the right. The screw will get shorter. | |
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| 3. Feel for a pulse just below the cuff, on the inside of the elbow, and put the stethoscope over the pulse. If you cannot feel a pulse, put the stethoscope on the middle of the elbow crease. |  |
4. Pump the cuff up by squeezing the bulb. | |
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| 5. As you pump, the needle will move. | 6. Then open the valve a little so the air leaks out slowly. | 7. The needle will begin to go back down. (If the valve is closed, it will stay at 200.) |
 When it reaches 200, stop pumping. |
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| As the air leaks out, watch the dial or gauge. When you first hear the personās pulse in your stethoscope, notice what number the needle or silver bar is at. This is the top number. Then listen for when the pulse disappears or gets very soft. Where the needle or bar is then is the bottom number. | ||
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You may not hear anything when the needle is here...
...or here
If you start to hear a pulse here
and then no longer hear it when the needle is here
then the blood pressure is: 100/70. |
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