Basic Nursing Skills: Vital Signs, Infection Control, and Safety
What this domain tests
Basic nursing skills are the technical measurements and safety practices you perform under nurse supervision: vital signs, hand hygiene and PPE, specimen collection, intake and output, weights, catheter and ostomy care, hot and cold applications, and emergency response.
Core concepts
- Know the adult ranges you were taught. Temperature roughly 97.6–99.6°F orally, pulse 60–100 beats per minute, respirations 12–20 per minute, oxygen saturation 95–100%. Report values outside the range, not your opinion of them.
- Counting. A regular pulse or respiration may be counted for 30 seconds and doubled; anything irregular, shallow, or abnormal must be counted for a full minute.
- Hand hygiene is the single most important infection-control measure: before and after glove use, before eating, after toileting, and whenever hands are visibly soiled (wash with soap and water).
- PPE order. Don gown, mask, eye protection, then gloves. Remove gloves first, then eye protection, then gown, and remove the mask last by its ties only.
- Intake and output are recorded in milliliters; 30 mL equals one ounce. Record everything you give and everything you measure.
- Report immediately: chest pain, difficulty breathing, cyanosis, a new irregular pulse, a fever, falling blood pressure, or a change in level of consciousness.
Traps
Questions bait you into practicing beyond your scope: adjusting oxygen, giving a medication, cutting a diabetic resident's toenails, applying heat to numb skin, or deciding a vital sign "isn't a big deal." Another common trap is skipping the full-minute count on an irregular pulse, or charting a guess instead of a measurement.
Worked example
You count respirations of 26 that look shallow. Do not double a 15-second count. Count a full minute, note depth, effort, and lip color, and report to the nurse right away.