Diabetis as 6th vital signs

[RNLULULABAMBA]

Hi nurses,

I went to a med/surg review class last week and I learnt that DM is the #6 V/S. Has anyone ever heard of this before.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Actually, I was taught that pain was the 6th vital sign.

However, some review classes might be teaching that diabetes mellitus is the 6th vital sign, because its incidence has basically skyrocked in children, teens, and adults.

[ann945n, RN]

I was told pain was the 5th vital sign, not 6th

I think that is a good idea, DM as #6 for those at risk

[TazziRN, RN]

Pain is the 5th. Never heard of DM being a vital sign, it is a medical condition. But then, I'm an oldie, what do I know? :rotfl:

[mediatix8]

I think that is rediculous. Vital signs are a group of information to indicate how stable someone is. You can be stable and also have diabetes. Its a very important piece of health history, but shouldn't be included as a vital sign. Why not add heart disease and cancer as the 7th and 8th vital sign. And then why not add more and more. If you want to say blood sugar should be the 6th vital sign, why not potassium, magesium, calcium levels as well? You can't just keep adding and adding things like this.

[Lisa CCU RN, RN]

Yeah, did they say that BS levels were the 6th vital sign as opposed to DM?

I think that silly too.

They are called vital signs because they detect VITAL signs of life.

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

O2 sat could also be the 5th VS

[crissrn27, RN]

Yeah, I would think an O2 sat would before a BS level, at least in a non-DM person. Now in a known DM case, this would probably be considered a "vital sign"-but so many other things could be considered "vital" like NA, K+, etc.

[all4schwa]

they saying goes that pain is the 5th, but if you include T, P, R, BP and saO2, that's five.

[snowfreeze, BSN, RN]

Diabetes is a serious health issue and needs to be addressed, patients need to be properly educated about this disease. In the facility I work in diabetes and hypertension are neck in neck as diagnosis. We check blood pressures as a vital sign, now blood sugars are quite often too. Usually at least 50% of my patients have diabetes or are on respiratory steroids so blood sugars have become a vital sign.

[LightCommaStix]

Blood sugar is definitely something you want to stay on top of. However, if you follow this line of logic, nearly any measured value could be considered a vital sign for a particular patient. WBC? ABG? At what point is it too much?

IMHO, true vital signs help describe the condition of any patient, regardless of illness - not just those with DM.

[pickledpepperRN]

I think it is illogical to call pain a vital sign.

Vital signs are measurable data.

Pain requires a complex assessment including the analysis and synthasis of data and observation of the patient.

Diabetes is a medical diagnosis. Very important to know but not a vital sign.