Vital signs are the earliest objective signal of clinical change, and a single value is far less informative than its trend. A blood pressure of 150/88 means one thing in a patient who runs 120/70 and another in a patient whose ordered parameter is below 160; a respiratory rate climbing from 16 to 24 across three visits is decompensation even while each value looks acceptable. Reading vital signs in clinical context and across time requires nursing judgment, not a layperson's recording of numbers.
The purpose of this module is to give clinicians correct measurement technique, reference ranges, and the chartable language that demonstrate vital-sign assessment, trending, and parameter-based escalation were reasonable and necessary and required the skills of a licensed nurse. It is the primary home for measurement technique and the general vital-sign trend; disease-specific interpretation and parameters are cross-linked, not duplicated, into the Body System and Disease overlay modules.
