Teaching Vital Signs with Visible Body Suite

Students entering the health professions will assess patients' vital signs every single day—and Visible Body Suite has all of the content you need to teach them! 

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the models, animations, activities, and features you can use to teach the anatomy and physiology behind a patient’s vital signs: pulse rate, body temperature, respiration rate, and blood pressure. 

Pulse Rate

For adults, a normal resting heart rate lies between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM). An unusually low heart rate (bradycardia) or high heart rate (tachycardia) can point toward an underlying problem.

VB Suite's beating heart model is one of our most-used models—and for good reason! With this model, you can:

• Dissect away or fade structures
• Adjust BPM
• View ECG
• Show how electrical impulses move through the heart
• Observe the movement of blood through the chambers

Beating heart model in VB Suite.

VB Suite’s features make the beating heart model perfect for breaking down big concepts. At any point, you can hit the pause button to pause the animation. Using the Draw tool, add annotations like arrows, circles, and drawings to illustrate your point. You can even make Flashcards out of the model with a couple simple clicks! 

Want a hands-on activity for your classroom? Check out this post on the Visible Body Blog for a great heart rate lab.

You can also use Visible Body Suite to show students where to take the pulse of a patient—you can easily find or add the radial, carotid, and femoral arteries from any gross anatomy view using the Anatomy Search tool in the bottom toolbar.

Body Temperature

The average healthy human has a body temperature of around 37°C (98.6°F)—when that temperature is higher or lower, like in cases of hypothermia or heat stroke, organs can’t function properly. Body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus.

With VB Suite, you can explore the hypothalamus and break down the mechanisms of immune response.

Start with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland microanatomy model. (Hint: it’s the first thing that pops up when you search “hypothalamus”!) This microanatomy model is a cross-section of the hypothalamus, showing the nuclei and how they connect to the pituitary gland.

Hypothalamus and pituitary microanatomy model in VB Suite.

Next, navigate back to the Human Anatomy section of VB Suite and select the Brain view, which is one of the first options that appears under Nervous System Views. This view puts the hypothalamus into context—use the Dissect tool to remove structures to get a good look at the hypothalamus’s location. 

A fever occurs when the hypothalamus sets the body temperature higher than average, typically as an immune response to infection, inflammation, or other problems.

Want a deeper understanding of immunity? VB Suite contains an entire A&P course set up like an interactive, digital textbook. From the VB Suite menu, select Anatomy & Physiology and check out Chapter 33. Immunity.

Respiration Rate

Fever and other conditions can lead to an abnormal respiration rate.

With VB Suite, you can start with the alveoli and work your way up to the respiratory tree to give students the whole picture of respiration. 

A Tour of the respiratory system in VB Suite.

You can also explore the muscles of inhalation and exhalation with gross anatomy models, and a 3D lesson on Respiratory Regulation explains how the respiratory and nervous systems work together.

Did you know that Visible Body provides free premade lab activities? For this particular topic, we recommend the augmented reality (AR) lab activity on respiration! 

Using AR, students can explore respiratory anatomy as they work their way through labeling and fill-in-the-blank activities that ensure they have a solid grasp on vocabulary. With AR, students engage with the content in a new way. In fact, research indicates that AR can increase student motivation and engagement!

Blood Pressure

We’ve already talked about the beating heart model, so let’s look at other content you can use to teach blood pressure with Visible Body!

With the structure of blood vessels microanatomy model, you can get a closer look at the layers of the blood vessel wall. The atherosclerosis pathology model is a great way to connect A&P concepts to “real-world” clinical applications, since hypertension is a risk factor for the condition.

The team at Visible Body creates more than just 3D models—we have a whole library of bite-sized animations that break down big concepts, including animations on blood pressure, measuring blood pressure, hypertension, and more. 

Part of an animation in VB Suite.

Jumpstart Learning with Courseware

We’ve covered each of the vital signs, so now let’s talk about premade content in Visible Body Courseware, which provides a foundational understanding of all body systems.

Visible Body Courseware is a learning and teaching platform that harnesses the power of 3D learning. Used as a standalone LMS or integrated with a number of other LMS platforms, Courseware uses Visible Body’s massive visual library of 3D models, animations, and simulations to create innovative course content and study tools such as interactive quizzes, virtual dissections, and flashcards.

Respiratory assignment in Courseware.

Premade courses take students through a series of activities and quizzes designed to break big concepts down into bite-sized pieces. Instructors can edit course content to customize it to their class’s needs. 

With premade Courseware content, Visible Body saves instructors time and effort, allowing them to make the most out of precious classroom time. 

As Marina Orobinskaia, director of the nursing assistant program at Northshore School District’s Medical Professions Academy, put it, “Given the fact that we study so much in nursing—caregiving, clinics, and studying medical terminology on the college level—Visible Body is pretty much a self-study course for us.”

If you want to try Courseware for yourself, fill out this form for a free instructor trial! 

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Are you an instructor? We have award-winning 3D products and resources for your anatomy and physiology course! Learn more here.