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

[uscstu4lfe]

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?

[clairebearrn]

I completely agree with daytonite. Even though we get vitals q2 to q4 hours in the ER, I always get vitals on my patients when I come on at 0700. Its part of my assessment. I want to know what is going on with my patients at that moment and catch if anything is going on ex. hypotension, tachycardia, etc. I'm going to be assessing them and be in the room so might as well do them.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I almost always do/get my own as soon as possible. Have also had bad experiences when I didn't do this.

I have learned to never trust another nurse when they say "don't worry, the patient is stable". It is such an easy way to cover your butt.

Now I usually do the machine, not manual because the machines really do almost always coorespond with manuals. And I figure if they don't want us to use them they shouldn't provide them. What good are they if you can't count on them.

Some nurses I work with always do manual.

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

All of our patients (except comfort care) are q4 vitals, so yep, we get them right after shift change. I'm never comfortable when I get floated to the medical floors and they don't get done till midnight, so I do them at 2000 myself there.

[birdgardner]

I'm about to graduate, and I want to take vitals myself but find myself wondering whether I will give that short shrift because of time management issues. Where I've been doing my clinicals, all pts have a RR of 18. Even the going downhill one who had a HGB of 7.8 something and a RR of 32 asleep. They also all have their BP checked with the same cuff, whether it is a LOL with arms like sticks, or the 300 lb plumber with arms like hams, contact status no bar.