Vital Signs and Other Patient Screenings

Taking vital signs and obtaining simple clinical measures provide valuable information about your patients that in many cases are important to evaluating and managing care appropriately. Many of these measures also can be important in screening for undiagnosed problems or identifying risk. If they are not taken by you as a clinician, significant information is lost. This site provides information on why and when vital signs and other patient information should be gathered. Staring with vital signs and body mass measures, future measures will include levels of activity/inactivity and for those with or at risk for diabetes, blood glucose levels, and protective sensation.

APTA is gathering more information on these areas and will provide additional resources as they become available.

• Extracting Hidden Gems from Simple Clinical Measures: Overview - 10/15/12

Resources for Gathering Vital Signs and Other Basic Screening

• Heart Health Screenings

  American Heart Association (February 2012)

• High Blood Pressure

  Provides information on acceptable ranges, as well as at risk levels - Medline Plus, a service of the US National Library of Medicine

• Medline Plus Health Screening

  Houses screenings on some conditions that doctors commonly screen for, such as breast cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

• Multiple Screening Tools

  SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions (including screens for Mental Health; Depression; Drug and Alcohol Use)

• Rehabilitation Measures Database

  Instruments to screen and monitor patient progress.

• Selected Preventative Screening Recommendations

  US Preventive Services Task Force and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Body Mass

• Extracting Hidden Gems from Simple Clinical Measures: Measuring Body Mass - 10/15/12
• Medicare Quality Measure for BMI

Tools and Calculators

• Centers for Disease Control: Assessing Body Mass
• US Department of Health and Human Services: BMI Calculator
• World Health Organization: BMI Calculator

PTJ Articles

• Prediction of Functional Outcome at Six Months Following Total Hip Arthroplasty

  August 2012

• Changes in Body Weight After Total Hip Arthroplasty: Short-term and Long-term Effects

  January 2012

• Association of Body Mass Index With Self-Report and Performance-Based Measures of Balance and Mobility

  April 2011

• Clinical Measures of Physical Fitness Predict Insulin Resistance in People at Risk for Diabetes

  September 2008

• Body-Composition Assessment Using Underwater Weighing Techniques

  October 1990

Other Articles

• Are pediatric quality care measures too stringent?

  J American Board of Family Medicine (September 2012)

• The significance of measuring body fat percentage determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis for detecting subjects with cardiovascular disease risk factors.

  Circulation Journal (September 2012)

• Predicting total, abdominal, visceral and hepatic adiposity with circulating biomarkers in caucasian and Japanese american women.

  PLoS One (August 2012)

• Weight- perception in male career firefighters and its association with cardiovascular risk factors.

  BMC Public Health, BioMed Central (June 2012)

• Measuring adiposity in patients: the utility of body mass index (BMI), percent body fat, and leptin.

  PLoS One (April 2012)

• Measures of abdominal adiposity and the risk of stroke: the MOnica Risk, Genetics, Archiving and Monograph (MORGAM) study.

  Stroke (October 2011)

• Measuring body mass index (BMI) in nursing home residents: the usefulness of measurement of arm span.

  Scand J Prim Health Care (2008)

Physical Activity

• Extracting Hidden Gems from Simple Clinical Measures: Screening for Levels of Activity - 11/9/12

PTJ Articles

• Physical Activity Promotion in the Physical Therapy Setting: Perspectives From Practitioners and Students

  September 2010

• Using Activity Monitors to Measure Physical Activity in Free-Living Conditions

  August 2006

Related Resources

• CDC: Physical Activity

  CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is working to implement policy and environmental strategies to make healthy eating and active living accessible and affordable for everyone.

• US Dept of Health and Human Services: Physical Activity Guidelines

  The Federal Government has issued its first-ever Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. They describe the types and amounts of physical activity that offer substantial health benefits to Americans.

• US Dept of Health and Human Services: Physical Activity Guidelines Report

  2008 Report broken into sections and available in Adobe pdf format.

Vital Signs

• Podcast: Pump Up the Cuff: The Importance of Monitoring Vital Signs - 8/11/11

Related Resources

• NIH: Vital Signs Article

  US National Library of Medicine (provided by MedlinePlus) (February 2011)

• Age-appropriate Vital Signs for Pediatric Patients

  National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (June 2008)

• Last Updated: 11/13/2012
• Contact: practice-dept@apta.org
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