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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us by University of Pennsylvania

4.8
stars
6,167 ratings

About the Course

The vital signs – heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, respiration rate, and pain – communicate important information about the physiological status of the human body. In this six-part course we explore the anatomy and physiology underlying the vital signs so that you will develop a systematic, integrated understanding of how the body functions. Relevant body systems are reviewed including cardiovascular and respiratory, followed by explanations of how the function of these systems affects vital signs. We discuss normal ranges, normal variants, and the mechanisms that underlie changes in the objective measurement of vital signs. The course also includes demonstrations of appropriate techniques for measuring vital signs in yourself and others. The course is designed for a broad, general audience but will be particularly interesting for individuals working in healthcare, those considering a career as a healthcare professional, lay caregivers, those with an interest in personal health and fitness, or anyone who simply wants to understand how the body functions....

Top reviews

BR

Sep 29, 2018

Yes, it is very useful to me and I will suggest to my friends to take this course. My sincere Thanks to Connie B. Scanga, PhD, she taken the all lecture clearly and her lecture was easy to understand.

AB

Jun 29, 2017

I really enjoyed to the professor and the idea of learning the material with her students. It made me feel as if I was in the classroom learning with them. She broke down the material in a great way.

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51 - 75 of 1,571 Reviews for Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us

By Amrit G

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Jan 16, 2022

As an aspiring Health-care provider this course was really well designed, engaging and applicable to our daily lives. This course provided a broad range of medical information that for me was very interesting. If you have zero background in human physiology and anatomy, you'll do perfectly fine in this course (you might find yourself clarifying vocabulary on the internet). This being said I do think that basic Biology (to the high school level) would be good to know since it really allows you to make connections (this being said someone without Biology experience to the high school level would be fine and would just find themselves clarifying a little often). Overall, the course was enjoyable, and Dr. Scanga was really good at explaining the topics. I highly recommend it!

By Maryam P

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Oct 10, 2022

Thank you for this course, it was very interesting and I learnt a lot, particularly about how perception of pain is such an individual experience and can be influenced by a wide range of factors going beyond the neural pathways. It has helped me understand the reasoning behind the observations I had to use on patients when I was working as a nursing assistant. I now know how important it is to test the vital signs and the biology behind them. I feel more confident in testing respiration rate and the different methods od measuring a patient's temperature.

Really enjoyed this course and would recommend it to anyone interested in human biology or that are in a caring position.

By kowshik e

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Jul 24, 2020

Great course with a lot of good content. I am taking this four years after completing my master's and this was one of the best learning experience I have got from a course setting since then. The way lectures were planned was really appealing to me. Especially having real classroom setting with professor and students made a big difference when it came to being interactive. A big thanks to Dr. Connie Scanga and her team! Putting together this course was a job well done!! I also wanted to buy a reference book that can be used in the future when and if I wanted to explore the subject further. Providing that piece of information would make it a near perfect experience.

By Ursula v G

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May 6, 2020

This was so well done. Thank you to Dr Scanga, Megan and Amanda for the lectures, and the students who participated. I also appreciate how everyone was so nicely dressed, beautiful hair ect. It just showed all the care and attention taken into all aspects of this course. Well done and thank you so much! Dr Scanga, you have a wonderful teaching style, and you can tell, you know your subject matter so well! Thank you for teaching and doing this course. Again, I can tell there was attention, care and time taken into planning the lecture segments, and being on camera may have been uncomfortable, therefore I acknowledge that, as part of my thanks for doing this.

By Aedrian A

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Jun 9, 2021

This is a course that I should have taken even before medical school. Dr. Scanga and her team did an excellent job of simplifying and integrating key concepts regarding vital signs - most often the healthcare providers' first source of insight to the condition of the patient in front of them. Very rarely in my medical education have I experienced an integrative approach in discussing the anatomy and physiology of these important entities. Unsurprisingly, this has led to better retention of the knowledge on my part. To those who are planning to study or are already studying medicine or human biology at the very least, this offering is highly recommended.

By Dennis E C

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Dec 23, 2023

Very comprehensive and easy to understand since the professor is teaching at a very moderate pace. Her voice is clear, and there is little need to refer to the transcript of the videos. Medical terms that are difficult to spell and flashed on screen also give emphasis to important parts of the lecture. Diagrams are also helpful and demos are practical ways of applying the knowledge gained. This is the best course I have attended so far in terms of teaching method: classroom setup with student participation, demos, applications, images, files of the videos and lectures available for review. Also everyone in the videos had given their best.

By Anna W C

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Jun 11, 2020

This is my first completed course on Coursera and it's been pretty good. I could go at my own pace, which I really liked and was able to finish much faster, while not compromising the quality of how I was learning. I liked how the "weeks" were sectioned and the videos in general never went to fast, but a couple should be put at 1.25 speed if you're very impatient twitchy like me. Dr. Scanga does a really good job at explaining everything and connecting all the lectures together so that it feels like a lesson, rather than blocky chunks of information that I need to somehow shove into my head. Highly recommend.

By Valeria H

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Sep 13, 2020

This course is amazing, interesting, thorough, easy to follow, and it provides a whole lot of knowledge that is fascinating. I enjoyed every single lecture and was able to understand everything. I was provided with all the necessary information and materials to have a complete grasp of the topics.

Dr. Scanga is an amazing teacher, she uses easy language, speaks clearly and she makes you feel sincere interest in the topic and lecture. There are also a lot of demos and interviews that make everything more real, exciting and interesting.

I had a very fun time while learning, thank you so so so so sooo much!

By Lo K S

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Jul 4, 2020

its something new for me, its something I always want to know. knowing the basic makes me want to learn deeper so it may help us in the future or maybe even help medical practitioner.

it might help us to take care our health also or maybe help our loved one

there are so many things that i learn from the course, its even give me new perspective on my work field, am working in kitchen and nutrition and health are something that concern us when making food. what the food can cause in human body.

this is one good course. i am sure gonna take another course about vital sign

By Alexis R

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Apr 25, 2020

This was my first time taking a medical course, and I had no prior knowledge of how the body works (aside from the simple things they teach us in grade school). Dr. Scanga explained things clearly and thoroughly, and in the end I feel like I learned more from this course than I have from any other online course I have taken. The simple quizzes at the end of the videos helped me to make sure I understood things clearly before I moved forward, and the case studies in the end-of-week quizzes helped me apply what I learned to real-life experiences. Thank you Dr. Scanga!

By Huynh T

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May 24, 2020

This is my first online course on Coursera and it was wonderful. I have never studied abroad before and this course is still very easy to learn for a non-native english speaker like me. The teacher was enjoyed her teaching and she spoke very clear and explained very well. The interaction with students in the videos is excellent to keep concentrating in the course. This is not relevant to my job or expertise but it brought me a lot of new interesting knowledge which is very useful to me to understand more about my body. Thank you so much for creating this course <3

By Shawna D

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Sep 22, 2020

This course builds an excellent foundation for understanding the vital signs and using them as a diagnostic tool. As an EMT, I found this course to answer many questions that arise during my patient assessments. I particularly enjoyed the pace of the course. I thought the ways in which the material was presented by Dr. Scanga made it suitable for beginners. She has the ability to explain complex concepts in simple and understandable ways. I took this course to help bridge the gap between my EMT cert and a potential Paramedic cert. Thank you!

By Himani P

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May 16, 2023

As a MBBS graduate it was very easy course for me and it was full of the information and facts which sometimes we as students tend to miss-out. The best feature about the videos was they were interactive unlike our college lectures where we are half absent minded, here it was not the case the students were answering the questions and so was I in front of my screen making me aware and alert in the whole lecture. Questions in test were also good with moderate difficulty level and transcript provided came handy. Than you for your hard work.

By Cheryl C

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Jan 14, 2022

This course was challenging for a person with no science background, but so well explained and reinforced that I feel I l was able to understand all of the concepts and will remember most of the vocabulary. Reading materials were well organized and presentations were clear (though at times a bit awkward, which was fine. Made it feel a bit more accessible) I had a few technical issues, particularly in section 5, with video closing abruptly an difficulty returning to where it quit. Other than that everything worked well.

By Luis G

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Oct 14, 2020

Excellent course, I did this at the same time as Neurobiology of Everyday Life and I like how both of them complimented. Ms. Scanga is an excellent teacher and I liked the format of this course, it felt really refreshing feeling as part of a normal class and doing the lab. exercises and interviews. I'm an engineer and this has nothing to do with my working branch, but even then I think taking this course it is a great way to develop a sense of responsability and proprioception of your own body, to better know yourself.

By Todd M

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Jul 16, 2020

Very thorough and helpful course for understanding the significance of vital signs and how to interpret them. I believe the information provided in the course has helped me be a better patient as well as a better healthcare provider. I would recommend having some background knowledge in anatomy, physiology, and medical terminology to be prepared for the content of this course. I am a high school student studying to be a CNA and found this class to be appropriately challenging (not too difficult but still informative).

By Maria A

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Jul 27, 2020

Me encantó el curso. Estoy muy satisfecha con la materia y la forma como presentaron los diversos tópicos e información. Es un curso que implico un gran desafío para mi ya que no cuento que estudios relacionados en salud, sin embargo, la manera clara y coherente permitieron poder entender cada uno de los aspectos.

Este curso me ayudo mucho mucho para entender un poco más como funciona mi cuerpo y entender como este actúa frente elementos externos.

Espero que puedan realizar una versión 2 prontamente.

By Jana

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Dec 28, 2021

Dr. Connie B. Scanga is a great teacher. As I do not have a medical background, I was not sure if this course might be the right one for me but Dr. Scanga made me curious about all the chemical processes in the body, video by video. I loved especially how she explained the processes - easy, clear, summarizing all important points while making me understand that our body is our best friend who is supporting us every single moment in life. Thanks a lot for your encouragement & keep teaching Dr. Scanga!

By Esha D

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Apr 28, 2020

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO TAKE THIS COURSE TO ALL MEDICAL ASPIRANTS . IT WILL HELP YOU TO CLARIFY CONCEPTS RELATED TO ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY AND I WAS MYSELF STUCK YO THE COURSE SO CURIOUSLY THAT I COULD COMPLETE IT WITHIN 3 DAYS . IM VERY GRATEFUL TO PROFESSOR DR. SCANGA . I MUST SAY YOU ARE ONE OF THE BEST TEACHERS , KIND AND CHEERFUL PERSON. THANKS TO COURSERA AND UNIVERSITY OF PENN FOR MAKING THIS PLATFORM ACCESSABLE TO EVERYONE. I WILL ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO TAKE VARIOUS COURSES OFFERED.

By Ramchandra R

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Dec 17, 2021

Very good informations that i have learnt from this course, ' Understanding what the body telling us" I am Liscensed Acupuncturist and Tao reader. Pain is associated not only with physical, but it is also influnced with psychological, emotional and as well as Social, that is great revolutionary research on pain. Now i understood how to monitor pain in the pain management clinic. This is great helpful for me.

Dr Scanga was a wonderful teacher that i ever met online course.

By Christina G

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May 9, 2020

Excellent content for individuals who have zero-to-some life sciences background. The Professors in the course do a great job breaking down key concepts and typing information together so you learn just enough background to understand the vital sign of each week's topic. I highly recommend this course, especially with the self quarantine and likelihood that people will have to monitor their own symptoms etc. The basis for these vital signs is foundational life knowledge!

By MB H

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Feb 23, 2021

Dr. Scanga is one of the best teachers I have ever had. Her teaching style is phenomenal. She would ask questions, demonstrate concepts & show illustrations. I would read the course notes at the beginning of the week and think there was no way I would ever learn the material, but after going through the videos, I completely understood what had been taught! Very engaging course that left me wanting more. I would LOVE to take more courses taught by Dr. Scanga.

By Gabriela C D

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Jan 20, 2021

The course was very interesting to me, both in terms of the topics developed and the practical utility of the concepts learned.

I enjoyed the classes and appreciated the quizzes (in particular the case study questions, which were presented to me as entertaining challenges).

Dr. Scanga and the other teachers are clear in their explanations, in addition to using appropriate didactic material.

Really, the course kept me interested until the end. Thanks a lot!

By Michele W

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Jul 13, 2020

This course is an excellent instruction for the understanding of vital signs. While I understand this is a course for nursing students anyone can benefit from this course. I took this course because my medical professional tells me so little when I visit I needed a better understanding of the numbers and their procedures. The instructor did an excellent job balancing the science and the technical jargon with laymen real world explanations.

By sana f

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Aug 18, 2021

Amazing course, everything on-point:

The lecturer has a unique way of presenting information and is very articulate.

The simulation of an actual classroom is engaging and makes the lectures much more lively

All models and photos used throughout the lecture help deliver the ideas clearly

Summary readings and end-topic quizzes are great and helpful for wrapping up ideas discussed throughout the videos

Thank you for such an experience