Poll: Do you take vital signs at the beginning of your shift?

Crux1024 · Oct 1, 2008

Vital signs at my hospital (med-surg floors) are taken q8h unless something calls for more. So, 0800, 1600 and 2400. I wouldnt expect youd have to take vitals in the middle of a shift if youre coming in at 1900. Or maybe thats just me..

dollphyn · Oct 1, 2008

Vital signs at my hospital (med-surg floors) are taken q8h unless something calls for more. So, 0800, 1600 and 2400. I wouldnt expect youd have to take vitals in the middle of a shift if youre coming in at 1900. Or maybe thats just me..

Most of our patients are every 4 hours. So when I come on at 1900, my tech is getting ready to take 2000 vitals. Then a new tech comes on at 2300 and takes the 0000 and 0400 vitals. If the techs are busy or need help, when I am doing my assessments, then I gladly take vitals for them if needed.

If we get a new admission, I will take the first set of vitals and then an hour later, the tech will.

daydreamer7130 · Oct 1, 2008

In the ICU, we have change of shift at 0700. The midnight nurses take the 0700 vitals and dayturn starts the q1hr vitals at 0800. Dayturn is responsible for the 1900... etc.

uscstu4lfe · Oct 1, 2008

Yes, our policy is every 8 hours as well. But there are some nurses on my floor that take them at the beginning of their shift, for their own assessment. This one nurse makes me feel bad for not taking them at the beginning of my shift (i'm still new), but I really see no point in doing that, especially when the patient is stable. And I just know that if one of my patient's ever crashes on me (god forbid) she'll probably say something like "Well you should have taken your own set of vitals!"

RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2008

I'm curious - do you guys take vital signs at the beginning of your shift? We take vital signs at 6PM, and I come on at 7PM. In general, I don't take my own set of vitals when I start my shift. There are exceptions, of course, such as if the patient has unstable vital signs, is post-op, etc. So, what do you all do?

I always assess blood pressure again before administering bp meds. Also, if I think a pt is febrile, I'll take temp. Otherwise, I don't take vitals until near my shift end.

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2008

On my floor the majority of the kids are Q4, so I tend to do them at the start of my shift.

NurseKatie08, MSN · Oct 2, 2008

I do my vitals at the start of my shift, since most of my patients are getting BP meds at that time (TCU within an extended care facility). I use the period just after report as time to assess everyone & see how their night was, bc after breakfast they are often whisked off to therapy on me. At this point, I make sure everyone who is getting a Medicare note that shift, or a BP med at that med pass has had vitals taken.

If someone's BP was high or low at the beginning of the shift, I will recheck it later. Otherwise, I take vitals as ordered or as I deem necessary if someone's condition changes.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2008

I'm curious - do you guys take vital signs at the beginning of your shift? We take vital signs at 6PM, and I come on at 7PM. In general, I don't take my own set of vitals when I start my shift. There are exceptions, of course, such as if the patient has unstable vital signs, is post-op, etc. So, what do you all do?

I learned this lesson early in my career. YES. They become a benchmark for anything that might go wrong later. And, you never know when something is going to go wrong. You can prioritize the sequence of who you take the vital signs on, but I would get a set on everyone under my charge. The first thing that gets asked if something goes wrong is "what were the vitals before?" or "how did they change?" You don't want to learn that lesson the way I did.

KR · Oct 2, 2008

I learned this lesson early in my career. YES. They become a benchmark for anything that might go wrong later. And, you never know when something is going to go wrong. You can prioritize the sequence of who you take the vital signs on, but I would get a set on everyone under my charge. The first thing that gets asked if something goes wrong is "what were the vitals before?" or "how did they change?" You don't want to learn that lesson the way I did.

I agree! As I work in the ICU we do Q1h VS if not more often, depending on what is going on. The reason I wanted to emphasize what was mentioned, is being an ICU nurse, it really helps when I respond to the floor for a code, if the nurse knows a more recent set of VS.

Nightcrawler, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2008

I learned this lesson early in my career. YES. They become a benchmark for anything that might go wrong later. And, you never know when something is going to go wrong. You can prioritize the sequence of who you take the vital signs on, but I would get a set on everyone under my charge. The first thing that gets asked if something goes wrong is "what were the vitals before?" or "how did they change?" You don't want to learn that lesson the way I did.

I agree with this, and have been known to get my own set of vitals on a patient that has arrived on the floor within the last hour. Remember if worst comes to worse, you will be asked about what YOU did for that patient. For me an assessment isn't a complete assessment without a set of vital signs. How can you truly determine whether the patient is stable unless you get that set of vitals?? BP , pulse and pulse ox fluctuations do not always give outward signs. You can also never be penalized for doing more than what is required by your floor.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 2, 2008

It depends - I start my shift at 1900. If I'm in the nursery, the babies get assessed q shift, which would be at 08, 16, and 24 unless otherwise ordered.

On the postpartum floor, we have a mix of pts. Some (depending on their condition, how far post-delivery, and what type of delivery they had) are q4, some are q shift, and some are BID. So when I get there, I do q4 and BIDers and then at midnight do the q4s and q shifters, and if there are any q4s due at 04, I do them then.

More often than not we don't have a tech so I usually get my own vitals. I don't mind, since I have to be in the room anyway. Less traffic in and out of the room for the patient, and like Daytonite said, that way I know what is going on w/ that patient.