Contrary to what you may have heard, pain is not the fifth vital sign. It’s not a sign at all. Vital signs are the following: heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, temperature . What do those four signs have in common? - They can be measured. A sign is defined as something that can be measured. On the other hand, pain is subjective.
It can be felt by a patient. Despite efforts to quantify it with numbers and scales using smiley and frown faces, it is highly subjective. Pain is a symptom. Pain is not a vital sign, nor is it a disease. How did pain come to be known as the 5th vital sign? The concept originated in the VA hospital system in the late 1990s and became a Joint Commission standard in 2001 because pain was allegedly being undertreated. Hospitals were forced to emphasize the assessment of pain for all patients on every shift with the (mistaken) idea that all pain must be…
