Chevron Left
Back to Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us

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.

Filter by:

151 - 175 of 1,571 Reviews for Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us

By Zaryab H

•

Mar 8, 2024

"I just completed the Coursera course 'Vital Signs: What the Body Tells Us' and I'm thrilled! It's incredibly helpful and easy to understand. I'm really happy with what I've learned because it made understanding vital signs simple. Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience!"

By Chandradeo A

•

Apr 8, 2021

I am now more confident that my knowledge about vital signs related to heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, metabolism, temperature and pain management will help me adopt a healthy lifestyle. I am thankful to Professor Connie Sanga, her team and guests for the presentations.

By Sarah N

•

May 7, 2020

This course helped me to understand better what is going on in the body before I get the numbers in the different vital signs. It will help me to explain a little to the patients as well, if they asked about why their blood pressure is in that certain range, and things like that.

By Emily F

•

Apr 22, 2020

This is an excellent course that provides a great study of the vital signs. As someone with no medical background, I felt it was explained well and I understood the concepts. Dr. Scanga is an excellent professor who is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject.

By EMAD A H

•

Dec 12, 2018

its a really wonderful course, i learned too many things from this course. Special thanks to all who help in this course.

Emad...from Ranya district, As Sulaymaniyah, Kurdistan, Iraq.

Assistant lecturer at Nursing college / university of Raparin

Bachelor degree in community health.

By Josephine M

•

Jan 25, 2024

I found this course really fascinating. It helped me understand what common vital signs are actually measuring, in the context of the human body and its function, as opposed to just numbers on a page. The topics were explained well, and I liked the pace of the class. Thank you.

By Lïbræ D

•

Mar 20, 2017

As a young 19 years Old, who didn't remember anything about the heart i am definitely understanding and knowing more about the heart than i ever thought i could the teacher is a master at what she is doing, she understands her class and its never boring....BRAVO to the lecturer

By Sara M T C

•

Nov 15, 2017

This was a great course. It was easy to follow, great questions, I found the directed notes especially helpful allowing me to fill in what I thought was important as I watched the lectures. I enjoyed the simulations. I would love to see/hear more of the irregular examples.

By Marie C C

•

Jul 19, 2020

A well-taught course on an important topic for all health care providers. I really enjoyed the format of an informal lecture with the occasional demonstration. Dr. Scanga is an excellent instructor. Shout of to her assistants, the students, and the guest speakers too!

By Ono O

•

Nov 25, 2019

Amazing class! I learned a lot of new information, and I’m glad I took the class! I liked how there were questions at the end of each lecture, questions at the end of each section, and application videos describing how to do certain skills (i.e taking blood pressure).

By Suzanne O

•

Jan 14, 2018

This was a great course for understanding what happens when you take a set of vitals. Most importantly, the instructor, Dr. Scanga, is one of those teachers that you wish you had many years ago because today you might actually be a doctor or nurse... she's that good.

By Bradley L K

•

May 25, 2017

Enjoyable. Easy to follow and understand. Dr Scanga presents in a comfortable and well paced fashion the material and ideas. Great information and overview of a few of the major systems of the human body, how they function and how we can assess their state. Nice job.

By Edward G

•

Feb 12, 2018

Great course presentation and outstanding instructional methods. Supplements all other health-related MOOCs that I have taken very effectively. Will definitely take other online course offered by Dr. Scanga et al. via University of Penn in the future. Thanks again.

By Jennifer E

•

Jan 6, 2018

The course was very interesting and enlightening, I learnt alot of things about the human body that i was not originally aware of. Professor Scanga was very thorough during the lectures. I am very much impressed and glad to have been a part of this 6-weeks journey.

By Yuewei X

•

Aug 2, 2017

It is very good to put the course in a seminar manner, which makes me feel like in a classroom and I liked it a lot. The demonstrations every week are also very helpful and comprehensive. This is a very good course and helped me learnt a lot basics about physiology.

By Mirza M

•

Apr 29, 2023

I totally liked the way the senior lecturer is giving lectures and I am watching these in my spare time. It was a good revision for cardiovascular anatomy and basics of cardiovascular system.

I am looking forward to completing all the modules as soon as possible.

By Carlos I G G

•

Sep 26, 2022

Disfrute el curso. Contiene conocimientos básicos sobre sognos vitales para reforzar conocimintos de una forma agradable, ylo mejor es que cuenta con traducción a diversos idiomas, lo que lo vuelve accesible.

Thaks to Dr. Scanga and their coworkers and students.

By Shamta K

•

Feb 9, 2021

This is a great beginners course for current/prospective health professional in understanding how to assess for basic vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, respiration rates, etc) and the basic anatomy underlying each of these systems. Great video and quiz resources!

By Rachel G

•

Feb 10, 2019

I really enjoyed this class. It was informative and interesting while also being entertaining. A good course leaves you curious and wanting more and this course left me very curious...and feeling a bit smarter. Thank you for producing such an excellent course.

By Lana M

•

May 27, 2016

Excellent introductory course to vital signs in the human body. The real-live classroom format was different and appealing. The lab demonstrations were very helpful. The Professor did a wonderful job explaining every topic, particularly Metabolism. Thank you!

By Farrah

•

Apr 24, 2020

Really helpful having the downloadable lecture outlines that I could print off and add notes to. I was able to fully concentrate on the lessons and keep learning, rather than being half-attentive while scribbling notes. Made it very time-efficient. Great course.

By NAKSHATRA N A E C

•

Jan 26, 2021

Very good explanation of Anatomy, Heart and Respiration.

I loved the content and especially regarding body's thermostat mechanism.

The way of explanation is simply superb.

I really appreciate Prof. Scanga for her nice and extraordinary efforts for this course.

By Yennilda V

•

May 16, 2020

Dr. Scanga does an excellent job at explining the topic, so much so that it sounds even easy, the questions she poses to her sutdents helps you think out an answer and remember the information.

The classroom setting also makes the class more engaging and fun.

By Pat H

•

Apr 25, 2020

I would say thanks to Dr.Scanga. I am a 2nd medical student in Australia and do this course on weekends. I really pick up some old knowledge and learn a lot of new stuff in this course especially about the pain part. Thanks for creating this wonderful course!

By julie t

•

Jul 4, 2023

Really enjoyed this course! Well organized with useful course material. Prof Scanga is very knowledgeable, clear, engaging and interesting. UPenn is lucky to have her! Glad to have stumbled upon this course, a great first class for me on Coursera.

5 stars !!