Entering Vitals Data for One Patient
This procedure will help you enter a patient’s vitals
for more than one date or time in a single session. You can also see the
latest vitals on file for the patient as you enter the new values.
If you need to enter the same vitals for more than one
patient, it may be easier to enter
data for multiple patients.
To enter vitals for one patient at a time:
- In the main Vitals window, select
a patient. The patient information opens in the Vitals window, showing
existing vitals data on a graph and in a spreadsheet-like grid on
the right side of the window.
- Click the Enter Vitals button above the graph. The Hospital
Location Selector opens. Note: if the patient is associated
with a hospital location, you will skip to step 4.
- Click one of the following three tabs to select a location:
The Appointments tab lists all appointments for this patient for
the last year. Click an appointment to select that clinic location.
The Admissions tab lists all existing admissions
for this patient. Click an admission to select that hospital location.
The Name tab allows you to search for all available
hospital locations. Enter the first few letters of the location name to
open a list of locations, then click one to select it.
- The selected patient’s Name, SSN, and DOB are displayed in the
navigation bar, along with the selected Hospital Location and current
Date/Time. To use a different location, date/time, or template for
this set of vitals:
Click the Read Monitor button to retrieve vital sign readings from
a vital sign monitor (VSM) connected to the workstation.
Click the Date/Time button to select a different
date or different time.
Click the Hospital Location button to select a
different location.
Click the Exp. View button to display or hide
the Templates panel. To select
a template, click any template name in the list. If no template has been
selected, the default System template will be used.
You can also display or hide the latest vitals on file
for this patient by clicking the Latest V. button. The vitals data
will be shown at the bottom of the Enter Vitals window.
- Type a value for each vital sign or measurement, then press Enter
to move to the next field. If you would like to select a different
qualifier for a vital sign, click the down-arrow button to display
a list of its qualifiers.
To enter a non-numeric value for a particular vital sign or measurement,
use one of these options.
- Click Save. To enter additional vitals for this patient,
repeat steps 4–6 using a different date, time, and/or location.
To discard the vitals you have entered, click Cancel. You will be
prompted to confirm the cancellation.
When you are finished entering vitals for this patient,
click Save and Exit. The Enter Vitals window closes.