Required Areas of Care - Vital Signs

Vital Signs

1. Complies with established guidelines
2. Obtains accurate vital signs by:
• Reading the instrument within a stated range of
• +/- 2 degrees for temperature
• Counting within a stated range of
• +/- 5 beats for apical or radial pulse (+/- 10 beats/minute for apical pulse for a child under 2 years)
• +/- 2 respirations/minute for adults (+/- 6 respirations for a child under 2 years)
• Reading the instrument within a stated range of
• +/-6 millimeters for blood presure
• Obtaining an accurate weight, when assigned by:
• balancing the scale
• undressing the patient as neccessary
• maintaining cleanliness of the scale
• weighing within one percent (1%) of the correct weight
• Obtaining oxygen saturation when assigned
• Assessing the level of pain, when assigned, by:
• Asking an adult patient to rate level of pain using a 0-10 scale or visual analog scale or
• Asking a child 3 or older to rate level of pain using a 0-5 faces scale or age appropriate visula analog scale or
• Using the FLACC pain assessment tool to rate level of pain for a child ranging in age 2 months to 3 years of age or
• Observing behaviors indicative or pain in a patient unable to rate his or her pain (e.g. moaning, grimacing, clutching, restlessness)
3. Records each of the assigned vital signs on PCS Recording  Form