Vital signs represent the baseline measurements of blood pressure, body temperature, pulse rate, and respiration rate. The measurement of vital signs is the first critical step for any clinical evaluation. However, in addition to clinical evaluation, the measurement of these signs should be done on a regular basis. The measurement of vital signs is a common practice and is done on a regular basis, mostly by non-clinical personnel. But the measurement of vital signs requires practice and should be done by a person with a clinical background. Measurement of vital signs plays an important role in early detection of several life-threatening diseases like cardiopulmonary diseases. In recent years, the vital signs measurement list has also included measurement of oxygen saturation in blood and identification of the smoking status of the patient.
The vital signs measurements include:
- Blood pressure by sphygmomanometer
- Pulse rate/ Pulse pressure measured manually or electronically by digital sphygmomanometer, pulse oximeter, smart watches, etc.
- Respiration rate measured manually
- Oxygen saturation in blood by pulse oximeter
- Smoking status of the individual
Natural variation in vital signs:
Vital signs not only change during a disease or pathogenic process, but they may also change naturally as mentioned below:
- Age: Aging individuals show a change in the baseline measurement of vital signs due to a natural change in their body physiology.
- Females of reproductive age: Females experience a natural change in vital signs, particularly their body temperature, in response to their cyclic hormonal changes.
- Children: Vital signs like pulse rate and respiratory rate vary widely between a child and an adult.
- Environmental factors: Vital signs show insignificant to modest changes due to environmental conditions like external temperature, high altitude, and air pollutants.
- Individual factors: Vital signs also change depending upon some individual factors like age, body weight, energy level, and health conditions.
These parameters reflect the importance of vital signs in normal body physiology as well as in any pathogenic process; so, these signs must be measured accurately and in a timely manner. The accuracy of vital signs measurements depends upon the technology used and the skill of the person measuring them. These measurements must be done regularly by a clinical person, as Early Warning Scoring (EWS) tools mainly use vital signs anomalies in predicting the presence of any disease.
Don’t you think vital signs should be measured regularly by a clinical person rather than any lay person?
MBH/PS