Vital signs? How often do you take them on your LTC unit?

[night owl]

I was wondering if we're the only place in the whole world that takes VS on every resident every day. One hall has them taken on days, another hall on eves and the 3rd on nights. Now if they are sick, it's whenever the Doc wants them (ie) q shift, bid. If they happen to c/o something I take them for the record. But OD if they aren't even sick? They're VS can change in the matter of seconds, so what's the point? They wouldn't take them OD if they were home, and this IS their home!

I can see that maybe after a few days, you might see someones BP increase and therefore could be a warning sign of something to come. When we tell the PA-C, (who thinks she's GOD...another thread of discussion) she ignores our opinions because afterall, "we're only dumb nurses" So how about you all? Do you take all residents VS OD?

[aimeee, BSN, RN]

Monthly for stable basic. Weekly b/p for those on b/p meds unless other parameters specified. Qshift temp for anybody on ABT. PRN for anybody with a change in condition. QshiftX3 days for new basic admits. Qshift for all skilled care until they finish their medicare days and go basic. QshiftX3 days for anybody who has fallen.

[willjc]

In the LTC facility that I work inwe do VS monthly unless there is a change in condition.

[Vsummer1]

Originally posted by Talino

Frequency of VS check is apropos to the resident's condition. Good practice is common sense -- if it's imperative to identify or monitor a resident's medical condition or response to a drug regimen, then do it.

Same goes true w/ Medicare residents. If their in for Rehab, not for skilled nursing from an acute illness, golly, stick that thermometer back in it's cradle.

A stable resident may require VS once a month during a monthly physician visit ONLY if the physician asks for it.

Routine VS checks is a facility practice, not a regulation. If you check VS frequently without a sensible rationale, you may be intruding on a quality of life issue. If the resident does not need it, let him enjoy his peace. :kiss

That is how it is done at the facility I am doing my clinical rotation at. Of course, as a student, our instructor wants us to do VS and a complete assessment every day. I do not intrude on my pt in order to get it done for my instructor though. I have not done it d/t resident came back from hospital and I didn't feel the need to intrude on them poking and prodding yet again and another time resident was on their way to an activity at 10 am and I felt getting them showered, dressed, fed etc. was more important than a head to toe so just did VS for instructor. My instructor felt my justification was valid also... so I must be learning something about this critical thinking BS!

[judyd119]

We take a full set of vital signs on admission, prn and monthly. If they are on Medicare part A, we take them q shift until they are discharged from Part A. We take Temps q shift on everyone on an antibiotic and BP's q week on everyone that has HTN. We also take a full set of vitals if they have had an accident/incident for 72 hours.

Hope this helps! Can't imagine having to have full v/s's on every resident every day. They're not in a hospital, they're at home.

[jevans]

I work on a stroke unit

On admission, we take them as BP indicates

Daily for 3 days if stable then twice weekly

IF stable weekly

AF patients pulse is done daily

j

[robinrdrn]

Boy, you "guys," do take vital a heck of a lot more than us. When I first started in LTC I was uncomfortable with taking vitals prn....but now it makes a lot more sense. It was a transition from hospital to LTC nursing problem on my part. We take vitals q shift for the first 3 admission days, temps on on the first 3 ABT days, full vitals on the first 3 fall days, and prn with condition changes. Sometimes weekly for certain meds or daily for lanoxin for example. I usually do my own....which is another thread cause I just don't trust the CNA's vitals. Maybe it's a control thing hey? LOL Anyway, hope this helps.

[FranRN]

In my experience, we took VS on every new admission for the first week, then once a month after that if everything was ok. We were also required to get VS on every medicare patient each shift. This worked pretty well. We also did not have to chart on everyone each shift; just the ones who were sick and also each medicare patient. Every patient did get charted on atleast x2 a month.

[JetLPN]

We take monthly vs on all resident in our TLC , and medicare,condition change, med change, are daily and q shift sometimes for a month on the medicare , thats the state regs in ks

[hey_nurse]

I work in a skilled nursing facility in Ohio. Our policy is to take vital signs once a week if they are on anti hypertensives or diuretics, on admission and for a week after admission, after a hospital stay, or if they are skilled, monthly for everyone else, and of course PRN.

[sassynurse78]

Originally posted by aimeee

Monthly for stable basic. Weekly b/p for those on b/p meds unless other parameters specified. Qshift temp for anybody on ABT. PRN for anybody with a change in condition. QshiftX3 days for new basic admits. Qshift for all skilled care until they finish their medicare days and go basic. QshiftX3 days for anybody who has fallen.

This is how we do it where I work to. Except when we give flu shots then it is everybody everyshift.