Why Functional Decline Can Tell a Bigger Story Than Vital Signs in Hospice
Blood pressure, pulse, respiratory rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation can provide valuable information about a hospice patient, but vital signs don't always reflect the full extent of a patient's decline. A person may have measurements that look relatively similar from one visit to the next while losing the ability to walk, transfer independently, eat without assistance, or remain awake for meaningful periods of the day. Functional changes show how illness is affecting the patient's actual daily life. When clinicians compare what a patient can do today with what they could do a week or several weeks ago, those changes can provide important information about disease progression, care needs, safety, and caregiver burden. In hospice, that larger picture can sometimes be more informative than an isolated set of numbers. Function Shows What Illness Is Doing to Daily Life Vital signs capture physiological measurements at a particular moment. Functional assessment shows how ...