Observations and vital signs: ritual or vital for the monitoring of postoperative patients?

Patient surveillance during the postoperative period has traditionally consisted of the collection of routine and regulated vital signs, supported by observations of other aspects of a patient's recovery. The purpose of this research was to determine if the frequent collection of postoperative vital signs assisted in detecting postoperative complications in the first 24 hours after a patient has returned to the ward setting. The study involved: (1) a survey of policy documents; (2) observations of postoperative nursing care; and (3) an audit of medical records. Major findings revealed that vital signs are collected based on tradition and are collected routinely, and there may not be a relationship between vital-signs collection and the occurrence or detection of complications.