Why vital signs are important in elder care

Your highest heart rate with exercise is also lower than it was when you were younger. Breathing rate usually does not change with age.

But lung function decreases slightly each year as you age. Healthy older people can usually breathe without effort. Older people may become dizzy when standing up too quickly. This is due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. This kind of drop in blood pressure when standing is called orthostatic hypotension. Risk of having high blood pressure hypertension increases as you get older. Other heart-related problems common in older adults include:.

Medicines that are used to treat health problems in older people can affect the vital signs. For example, the medicine digoxin, which is used for heart failure , and blood pressure medicines called beta-blockers may cause the pulse to slow. Diuretics water pills can cause low blood pressure, most often when changing body position too quickly.

Aerobic exercise gets the heart working to pump blood through the heart more quickly and with more force than normal. As blood is pumped faster, it must be oxygenated more quickly, which quickens respiration. Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and boosts healthy cholesterol levels. Low impact aerobics include walking and swimming. Running, tennis and dance are high impact aerobics. The carotid arteries take oxygenated blood from the heart to the brain. The pulse from the carotids may be felt on either side of thefront of the neck just below the angle of the jaw.

This rhythmic beat is caused by varying volumes of blood being pushed out of the heart toward the extremities. Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the tissues of the body. Hypothermia or a lower than normal body temperature is also closely watched by medical personnel. It does become more difficult for your body to control its temperature as you age. You may find that it's harder to stay warm due to a decrease in body fat. Aging also decreases the body's ability to sweat, putting you at greater risk of heatstroke, since you can't tell if you're body's getting overheated.

The good thing is body temperature can easily be measured at home with any number of different thermometers. We recommend using a forehead thermometer as it's easy to use and gives you reading almost instantly.

Blood pressure is a vital sign taken to detect the existence of hypertension or hypotension. It is measured using an electronic blood pressure monitor. The reading consists of 2 numbers: the higher number, systolic pressure, is the measure of pressure within the artery when the heart contracts.

The lower number, diastolic pressure, is the measurement of pressure when the heart is at rest. These norms should not be based on single testing but should be averaged over several times. You may become dizzy when standing up quickly due to a sudden drop in blood pressure, and the risk of high blood pressure hypertension increases as you age.

It's a good idea to have your blood pressure checked on a regular basis by a medical professional. You can also check your own pressure at home using a wireless upper arm cuff , although this is no substitute to having it checked by a doctor.

The pulse rate indicates the rate at which the heart beats while pumping blood through the arteries. You can measure your pulse rate at home in one of two ways. To watch the webinar that inspired this blog post, please go here. While technology is making strides in monitoring and treatment solutions, the elder population have some unique challenges when it comes to leveraging these benefits.

Adequate equipment: There are a range of devices that the elderly need in order to stay on top of their health and wellbeing, and these are simply not always available from home. Devices such as a blood pressure cuff, an oximeter, a respiration rate monitor, and technology for glucose level monitoring in the blood. These are all common items used in a simple check-up for the elderly, but very few people have access to these at home. Cost: Even for those who want to store and manage the devices at home, the cost is often prohibitive.

If equipment needs to be FDA approved, a single device can cost hundreds of dollars. This gets even more complex for aging patients, as the changes in their body often mean that standard items like blood pressure cuffs are inappropriate.

While some companies are producing targeted equipment for the elderly, the cost is very high. In addition, this kind of monitoring is only periodic at best and puts a strain on hard-working medical staff, of whom there is a serious shortage. Physiology: Changes in tissue, blood vessels, and function make accurate vital signs hard after around 80 years of age, depending on general wellbeing. Doctors may even ask elderly patients to rub their hands together for several minutes to wake up the tissue.