Importance of Vital Signs during Handoff

General EM PGY1 PGY2 PGY3 PGY4 Uncategorized

Well, I just sent an article that how important is the role of vital signs during pre-hospital or in ED assessment. Annals of EM published an article: Communication of Vital Signs at Emergency Department Handoff: Opportunities for Improvement. In a prospective observational study, authors  observed 1,163

patients sign out during 130 ED shifts. We did not communicate hypotension in 42%, and hypoxia in 74% at our sign out. Interestingly, ED overcrowding was not associated with this communication error. We need to do a better job on sign out and at least start on reminding ourselves about vital signs!

Link to article