Vital signs and/or bedside measurements

SOFUS also consumes continuous or semi-continuous bedside observations, represented as FHIR Observation resources.

These include:

Blood pressure

• Systolic blood pressure

• Diastolic blood pressure

Respiratory and oxygenation status

• Respiratory rate

• Oxygen saturation

• Fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂)

• Oxygen flow (L/min)

Circulatory and physiological signals

• Heart rate (pulse)

• Body temperature

Blood gas measurements

• pH (arterial and venous)

• pO₂

• pCO₂

• Base excess

Certain observations reflect clinical state rather than numeric measurements. A key example is level of consciousness:

• FHIR resource: Observation

• Value type: CodeableConcept

• Example scale: Awake, responds to voice, responds to pain, unresponsive

These observations are used by SOFUS to assess clinical deterioration and changes in neurological status, and are interpreted in conjunction with vital signs and other bedside measurements.

Vital signs may be represented as single observations or as structured observations with components, depending on the source system.

Inputs

Clinical concept	FHIR resource	FHIR value type	Description
Heart rate (pulse)	Observation	Quantity	Heart beats per minute
Respiratory rate	Observation	Quantity	Breaths per minute
Body temperature	Observation	Quantity	Core body temperature (°C)
Oxygen saturation (SpO₂)	Observation	Quantity	Peripheral oxygen saturation (%)
Fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂)	Observation	Quantity	Delivered oxygen concentration (%)
Oxygen flow rate	Observation	Quantity	Oxygen delivery in liters per minute
Systolic blood pressure	Observation	Quantity	Systolic arterial pressure (mmHg)
Diastolic blood pressure	Observation	Quantity	Diastolic arterial pressure (mmHg)
Level of consciousness	Observation	CodeableConcept	Clinical assessment of consciousness (e.g. alert, responds to voice, responds to pain, unresponsive)