According to Potter and Perry (2009), vital signs are a quick and efficient way of monitoring a patient’s condition or identifying a problem, and evaluating the patient’s response to intervention. Vital signs in critical care not only include blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, respiratory rate, and oxygen saturation, but other hemodynamic parameters that relate to the patient’s complex medical conditions.
A mother of a 19-year-old male patient who was transferred to an ICU from the operating room talked about her experience of the importance of vital signs monitoring on post-operative patients like her son:
When my son was in ICU, they treated him very good. They were very attentive to him so it was no problem. They monitored his blood pressure frequently. It was very important that they monitor his blood pressure, pulse and even his breathing. They made sure his blood pressure is stable because it could change if he had any unusual bleeding.