Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us

Course Highlights

University of Pennsylvania via Coursera
15 hours of effort required
195,955+ already enrolled!
★★★★★ (3,188 Reviews)

This Human Physiology Online course will help you understand what your body does and how it communicates with you. The body communicates through vital signs which include heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate and, pain, etc. you will be exploring the anatomy and physiology underlying the vital signs. This will help you develop a systematic and integrated understanding of how your body functions. Similarly, you will also understand what normal ranges, normal variants, and other mechanisms in your body, work.

Syllabus:

Pulse/Heart Rate

This week we start our exploration of the vital signs with a look at the heart. We’ll study the basic structure of the heart, think about how the heart pumps blood through the body, and learn how clinicians assess and think about heart rate and the pulse.

Blood Pressure

During week 2 we will learn about the anatomy of the blood vessels and how they function. You will have a better understanding of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and assessing blood pressure accurately.

Metabolism

This week we will explore metabolism. We will discuss anabolism and catabolism, basal metabolic rate, how the body generates heat. You will also have a better understanding of how health care providers assess metabolic rate.

Temperature

During week 4 you will learn the definition of mean body temperature and how the body regulates temperature. We will discuss hypothermia and the difference between hyperthermia and fever. Lastly, you will learn how to assess body temperature.