However, there are several situations in which this is NOT gonna work our for you. Say, you work at a nursing home and you find your patient in bed cold and pulseless. Note the lividity. Yeah. I'm not saying don't send this corpse over here, because, obviously, you're never gonna stop doing that, but at least don't send this corpse over here with a report sheet with the vitals as follows- BP 110.72 HR68 RR 14 SPo2 98% because this person is wicked dead and dead people don't have vital signs. K thanks.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Visual Vitals
Now, I hope no one here loses too much respect for me when I admit that I, on occasion, take visual vitals as opposed to the generally accepted actual vital signs. Calm down. I'm not talking all the time, very rarely, in fact. But, if I'm in fast track, I have 5 more discharges to do, I've been stuck on team lazy and you're a young person here for an STD with no medical problems who just got your vital signs taken in triage an hour and a half ago... yeah. I might just have to take your visual vitals so I can go pee. Sorry. I'm not saying it's right, but dude, sometimes that's the way things go.
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LOL. 98% eh? That’s damn good O2 for a stiff with lividity.
ReplyDeleteI don't even bother with d/c vitals on these stanky vag nonsense patients. I don't think everyone needs vitals before they go. They don't get but one set at the clinic and a stanky vag at a clinic is no different than an ER stanky vag.
ReplyDeleteAlso, normally nursing home patients are "84% on 2L NC" because nursing home nurses never put anyone on anything besides 2L via NC.
Explain to me your process of taking visual vitals? Do you look at the patient and if they seem pretty healthy you guesstimate a bp near 120/80 for example?
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned the only people who need dc vitals are people that have had narcs. Otherwise its just completely stupid. Lets just say there are a whole lot of nurses who make them up...I just leave it blank.
ReplyDeleteVisual vitals. Yup = been there.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't chart them.
I have yet to come across a dead body with v/s...wth? woah. Some nurse just looked back in the chart and wrote down the last set ever taken some years before....
at least they didnt list the rhythm unstable asystole?!
ReplyDeleteI'm with girlvet- I only do d/c vitals if they get narcs, or had abnormal VS at triage. Otherwise, I document that they verbalized understanding of their d/c instructions (gotta be breathing to verbalize, right?), and that they ambulated without dizziness upon d/c.
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