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The Vital Signs module provides a comprehensive view of the patient’s vital sign readings. The specific vital sign readings that are available are different at each organization, but some examples of common items you might see are Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate, Temperature, Blood Pressure, Finger Stick Blood Glucose, and so on.

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Vital Signs At a Glance

The Vital Signs module opens with a Summary list of all the current vital signs information for the selected patient.
  • The patient heading row displays the selected patient’s name, age, gender, MRN, and location. Use this information to verify that you are looking at the right patient.
  • Each type of vital sign is listed in its own row. The columns available for each vital sign row included the following:
    • First column: This column contains the vital sign name followed by the units in which it is recorded. The vital sign name is typically abbreviated to save space (for example, “RR” for Respiration Rate, or “FSBG” for finger stick blood glucose).
    • 24-hr Range: This column contains the lowest and highest reading for each vital sign within the last 24 hours. The column heading shows you the dates and times of the 24 hour range. This column is blank if there are no readings within the last 24 hours, or if the vital sign value contains a date or any non-numeric characters (for example, “<2” or “>50” or “1/2”).
    • Multiple columns for time intervals: After the 24-hr Range column, there are one or more columns representing all of the readings for a particular time interval, such as four or eight hours. By default, the time interval for each column is eight hours. However, you can change the time interval for the columns as needed (see Changing the Time Interval on the Vitals Summary). When you select a larger block of time as the time interval, more than one reading may be included in each interval. If more than one reading is included in an interval, the table cell shows the value of the most recent reading and also contains a notation indicating the *total number of readings *included in the time interval (for example, it would show “(3)” if the time interval contained three readings).No matter which time interval you choose, the interval columns are always displayed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent data in the left-most column, and older data to the right. You can scroll left and right, as well as up and down, to see all of the data in the interval columns. Note that the First column displaying the vital names does not scroll horizontally. An asterisk next to a vital sign indicates that there are comments available.- From the Summary screen, you can select a specific vital sign and either graph it over time, or view the details of all the readings. To view this information, select any interval cell to the right of the 24-hr Range column. See Switching Between Graph and Detail View, Graphing Vital Signs, or Viewing Vital Sign Details in List Format.

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Changing the Time Interval on the Vitals Summary

By default, the time interval for each column on the Vital Summary is eight hours. However, you can change the time interval for the columns as needed. For example, you could change it to any of the following intervals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12 hours. The time interval that you choose remains selected until you choose something different.
  1. Tap Intervals in the upper right corner of the Vitals screen.
  2. Select the desired number of hours for the interval (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 12). The Summary is immediately displayed using the new time interval for the interval columns.

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Switching Between Graph and Detail View

From the Vitals screen, you can display more detailed information about a particular vital sign by selecting a cell in one of the interval columns. When you do so, either the Detail view or the Graph view is displayed. The Detail view is the default view, but you can easily switch back and forth between views. Once you start switching views, the view that you last used remains selected until you choose something else. To switch between Detail view and Graph view:
  1. From the Vitals Summary, tap a cell in one of the Interval columns. The last view that you looked at (either Detail view or Graph view) is displayed.
  2. To switch views, tap Graph to display the Graph view, or tap Detail to view the Detail view.
Vitals Graph button Vitals Detail button

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Graphing Vital Signs

You can look at a range of values graphed over time for any vital sign. A graph can make it easier to see trends. For example, you can see whether a medication that you administered two days ago is causing an improvement in a patient’s blood glucose levels.
  1. From the Vitals screen tap a cell in one of the Interval columns for a specific vital sign (tapping the Vital name or 24-hr Range does nothing). The last view that you looked at (either Detail view or Graph view) is displayed.
  2. If the Graph view is not already displayed by default, tap Graph below the Patient header.
Vitals Graph button A graph is now displayed for the selected vital sign. Most vital signs are displayed as line graphs. When the graph first opens, the data points for the selected interval are always selected by default, highlighted in purple. The date, time, and exact numeric value for the selected data points are shown just above the graph. You can tap on any data point in the graph to see the exact date/time/value for that specific reading. For blood pressure readings, an I-bar graph is used instead of a line graph so that both the systolic and diastolic measurements can be shown on one graph. Each bar represents one complete blood pressure measurement. The top line is the systolic pressure, and the bottom line is the diastolic. Vital sign values are usually numeric and are graphed as described above. However, if a vital sign value contains a date or any non-numeric characters (such as “<1” or “>50” or “1/2”), then it is not included on the graph, and message to that effect is displayed. While looking at a graph, you can:
  • Select a data point on the graph. When you select a data point, it turns into a purple circle, and the date and value for that point are displayed above the graph. To select a data point, tap the data point.
  • Zoom in or out on the graph. When there are a large number of data points on the same area of the graph, zoom in to blow up the details for a particular period of time. Zoom back out again to see the big picture. To zoom in, use the “stretch” gesture. To zoom back out again, use the “pinch” gesture.
  • Switch to Detail view to see the readings in a list format. Tap Detail below the Patient header.
Vitals Detail button
  • Move to the Graph screen for the next vital sign in the patient’s Summary list. Swipe right to left.
  • Move to the Graph screen for the previous vital sign in the patient’s Summary list. Swipe left to right.
  • Go back to the Vital Signs Summary. Tap Back. .

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Viewing Vital Sign Details in List Format

Select any item on the Vital Signs Summary to see more detailed information about it in a list format. For example, for any specific vital sign type, such as Heart Rate or Temperature, you can see a list of the exact measurements and the dates and times that they were recorded.
  1. From the Vitals Summary, tap a cell in one of the Interval columns for a specific vital sign (tapping the Vital name or 24-hr Range does nothing). The last view that you looked at (either Detail view or Graph view) is displayed.
  2. If the Detail view is not already displayed by default, tap Detail below the Patient header.
Vitals Detail button The Detail view is displayed. A list of all the readings for the selected vital sign is displayed. For each reading you can see the Date/Time and the Value. If your organization has implemented the Health Information Exchange option, then the Source (the hospital or practice from which the reading was derived) is also displayed. If comments exist for the vital, they are displayed on a new row below the Date/Time and Value. From the Detail screen you can:
  • Switch to Graph view to see how the readings trend over time. Tap Graph below the Patient header.
Vitals Graph button
  • Move to the Detail screen for the next vital sign in the patient’s Summary list. Swipe right to left.
  • Move to the Detail screen for the previous vital sign in the patient’s Summary list. Swipe left to right.
  • Go back to the Vital Signs Summary. Tap Back. .