title: Certification in emergency nursing associated with vital signs attitudes and practices.
abstract: Regimented vital signs (VS) assessment for all emergency patients is a common practice in many US emergency departments despite the paucity of evidence supporting its utility. Nurse attitude may be a factor that maintains this ritualized practice. Understanding the relationship between attitudes, practices, and nurse demographic factors may be the first step to challenging this ritual in order to implement evidence-based practices. A 20-item questionnaire was developed to assess emergency nurse attitudes and practices related to VS. A convenience sample of emergency nurses from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States was used. Eighty-one emergency nurses participated. Results demonstrated wide variations in VS practice and attitudes, though some strongly held attitudes are inconsistent with the literature. Certification in emergency nursing had significant associations with beliefs that nurses' clinical judgment should be the determinant for VS frequency (p < .05) and that triage VS are not an accurate representation of patient condition (p < .05). The practice of assessing the patient first and reviewing VS after was also associated with certification (p < .05). This study begins to address emergency nurse attitudes and practices of VS so that evidence-based changes can be implemented and further research on VS frequency conducted. It also demonstrates the relationship between specialty certification and evidence-supported attitudes and practices.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: burchic@ccf.org.
authors.forename: Christian N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Burchill
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 418 Curie Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 418 Curie Boulevard Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Polomano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002568:Certification / Q000592:standards*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003657:Decision Making; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055986:Vital Signs; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Attitudes; Certification; Emergency nursing; Evidence-based practice; Practices; Vital signs