by Murph E.
If you ask a nurse what the four vital signs are, you’ll get a fairly standard response:
- Heart rate, e.g. 60 bpm
- Blood pressure, e.g. 120/80 mmHg
- Temperature, e.g. 36ºC
- Respiratory rate, e.g. 12–20 per minute
But the “fifth vital sign” has been defined by different teachers that I’ve had in at least four different ways. I have had at least one nursing professor tell me explicitly that each of the following is the “fifth vital sign”:
- Pain, e.g. 2/10 (PQRSTU)
- O2 saturation, e.g. 97%
- Alertness and orientation
- Comfort, appraised subjectively by the patient
Has anyone else been told by a nursing professor that something else is the fifth vital sign?
