First few Article Sentences
The thermometer remains the preeminent device to measure temperature, and specifically for health care practitioners to identify the existence of fever. Evolving over 17 centuries, today the thermometer comports with the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90), the standard set by the International Committee of Weights and Measures, superseding the International Practical Temperature Scale of 1968, as amended, although altered ever-so-slightly by the Provisional Low Temperature Scale of 2000 (PLTS-2000). This basic diagnostic test, whether directed toward oral, rectal, tympanic, temporal artery or axillary, is typically digital, replacing glass and mercury from the past.
Measuring the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels is also common to ascertain the efficacy of any cardiac cycle, calculated by the maximum pressure during an individual heartbeat (systolic) as well as the minimum pressure between two heartbeats (diastolic). Temperature and blood pressure, combined with the rate at which breathing occurs (respiratory rate), the frequency of the heartbeat over the course of 60 seconds (heart or pulse rate), and the concentration of oxygen dissolved in a particular medium (oxygen saturation), provide necessary and fundamental information at the beginning of most hospital stays.
From humble origins, the hospital institution deploys basic diagnostic procedures through a handful of health care practitioners, the combination of which serves as the fulcrum for treating practically any illness or injury. Indeed, the simplicity of health care explains, in part, why for much of the population life begins and ends inside the four walls of a hospital. Today the practice of medicine even transcends science fiction through advances in technology, including surgical instruments attached to robotic arms or the removal of part of the skull so that computers and radiological modules can reach precise locations within the brain. Still, health care appropriately remains myopic, focusing on matters of life and death.