Nursing Students’ Knowledge, Competence and Attitudes towards Vital Signs Monitoring during Clinical Practice

Aim and Objective: This study assessed the perceived knowledge and competence, and the attitude of Saudi nursing students towards vital signs monitoring for detecting patient deterioration during clinical rotation. It also examined the predictors of students’ attitudes. Background: One of the most important uses of vital signs monitoring is the early detection of deterioration. Vital signs monitoring is one of the most frequently assigned tasks to students during clinical rotation. However, the attitudes of nursing students towards vital signs monitoring for detecting clinical deterioration remain unexplored. Design: Quantitative, cross-sectional design. Method: A convenience sample of 529 baccalaureate nursing students in two universities in Saudi Arabia was surveyed using the V-scale from October 2019–December 2019. A multivariate multiple regression was implemented to examine the multivariate effect of the predictor variables on the five subscales of the V-scale. This study adhered to the STROBE checklist. Results: The overall attitudes of the students towards VS monitoring can be interpreted as poor to modest. The highest mean was reported in the subscale ‘communication’. The subscales ‘workload’, ‘key indicators’ and ‘technology’ received low mean scores. The university, age, gender, academic year level and perceived knowledge had significant multivariate effects on the five subscales of the V-scale. Conclusions: The Saudi nursing students had poor attitudes towards vital signs monitoring, specifically towards the use of technology in vital signs monitoring, the workload associated with vital signs monitoring and vital signs as key indicators of patient deterioration. Relevance to Clinical Practice: The findings reveal the need to improve the curricular content and training of nursing students regarding vital signs and the physiological indicators of clinical deterioration. This study also identified areas that require improvement to ensure positive attitudes among students.