The vexatious vital: Neither clinical measurements by nurses nor an electronic monitor provides accurate measurements of respiratory rate in triage

 Author contributions: PBL obtained equipment on loan free of charge for use in the study. PBL, JMB, and KS conceived the study, designed the trial, and supervised the conduct of the trial. PBL and JMB collected data. PB and PBL analyzed the data. PBL drafted the manuscript, and all authors contributed substantially to its revision. PBL takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.Presented orally at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine New York regional meeting, New York, NY, April 9, 2003; as a poster at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting, Boston, MA, May to June, 2003; as a finalist for Best Resident Research Paper at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting, Boston, MA, May to June, 2003; and as a poster at the Second Mediterranean Emergency Medicine Congress, Barcelona, Spain, September 2003.Previously published as an abstract in Lovett PB, Buchwald JM, Stürman K, et al. The vexatious vital: a comparison of clinical vs electronic measurement of respiratory rate in triage. Acad Emerg Med. 2003;10:552-553.Two Escort Prism monitors for transthoracic impedance plethysmography measurement were loaned free of charge for the study by Medical Data Electronics.Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(04)00649-3

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2004.06.016

© 2005 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.