Abstract
Physical Therapists (PTs) are responsible for ensuring the safety of each patient being treated. Measuring vital signs allows clinicians to screen for undiagnosed conditions, monitor existing conditions, and facilitate patient safety through prevention. The purpose of this study was to survey PTs regarding their use of vital signs in the clinical setting. Participants (N=45) included licensed PTs currently practicing in adult outpatient clinics in the state of Florida. Participants were recruited via the Florida Physical Therapy Association's (FPTA) website. The survey assessed the frequency of heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and pulse oximetry (SpO2) measurement in the six months prior to taking the survey; beliefs about the importance of measuring vitals, reasons for not measuring vitals, and information pertaining to the demographics of the respondents. Only 28.9% (n=13) of respondents (N=45) reported that their clinic had a policy regarding the measurement of vital signs and few believed it was important to measure vitals on each patient at every visit ("Extremely Important"; HR n=4, BP n=4, SpO2 n=3). When asked the reasons for not measuring vitals, the most frequently chosen responses were "not important for my patient population" (40.0%; n=18) and "lack of time" (22.2%; n=10). This study provides useful information about the gaps between the American Physical Therapy Association's (APTA) recommendations for measuring vitals and current clinical practices.