Blood and the Cardiovascular System for Applied Human Biology BTEC Level 3

A set of student notes covering the following part of the spec. To the best of my knowledge from many emails back and forth with Pearson and careful review of the spec and PPQ’s so far.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Applied Human Biology

Unit 1: Principles of Applied Human Biology

A3 Cardiovascular and respiratory system
We will look at the relationship between the structure, function and processes of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems linked to health, looking at risk factors for certain conditions.
• Circulatory system structure and function:
o heart, to include vascularisation, innervation, chambers, valves and direction of blood flow
o blood composition, to include red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets
o blood vessels, including arteries, arterioles, capillary networks, venules, veins
o pulmonary and systemic circulation
o regulation of heart rate and blood pressure.

• Causes and common symptoms of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, hypertension and hypotension.

A6 Diagnostic techniques
• Basic methods, equipment, result format, unit of measurement and interpretation for the following diagnostic techniques:
o manual and automated observation of vital signs, including heart rate, blood pressure, including the normal ranges for these vital signs in adults
o observation of tissue perfusion and blood oxygen saturation
o electrocardiograms (ECG) for arrhythmia, coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction, including:
– basic P-QRS-T wave sequence
– changes to the P-QRS-T wave sequence for the conditions named above
– use of EGC to calculate heart rate
• Haematology:
o full blood counts
o blood tests for autoantibodies
o blood tests for c-reactive protein (CRP). The mechanism for production of CRP in the body is not required
o blood typing limited to ABO blood types.