scholarly journals Development and evaluation of a novel Vital Signs Alert device for use in pregnancy in low-resource settings

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah L Nathan ◽  
Nicola Vousden ◽  
Elodie Lawley ◽  
Annemarie de Greeff ◽  
Natasha L Hezelgrave ◽  
...  

ObjectivesHaemorrhage, hypertension, sepsis and abortion complications (often from haemorrhage or sepsis) contribute to 60% of all maternal deaths. Each is associated with vital signs (blood pressure (BP) and pulse) abnormalities, and the majority of deaths are preventable through simple and timely intervention. This paper presents the development and evaluation of the CRADLE Vital Signs Alert (VSA), an accurate, low-cost and easy-to-use device measuring BP and pulse with an integrated traffic light early warning system. The VSA was designed to be used by all cadres of healthcare providers for pregnant women in low-resource settings with the aim to prevent avoidable maternal mortality and morbidity.MethodsThe development and the mixed-methods clinical evaluation of the VSA are described.ResultsPreliminary fieldwork identified that introduction of BP devices to rural clinics improved antenatal surveillance of BP in pregnant women. The aesthetics of the integrated traffic light system were developed through iterative qualitative evaluation. The traffic lights trigger according to evidence-based vital sign thresholds in hypertension and haemodynamic compromise from haemorrhage and sepsis. The VSA can be reliably used as an auscultatory device, as well as its primary semiautomated function, and is suitable as a self-monitor used by pregnant women.ConclusionThe VSA is an accurate device incorporating an evidence-based traffic light early warning system. It is designed to ensure suitability for healthcare providers with limited training and may improve care for women in pregnancy, childbirth and in the postnatal period.

PEDIATRICS ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 137 (Supplement 3) ◽  
pp. 256A-256A
Author(s):  
Catherine Ross ◽  
Iliana Harrysson ◽  
Lynda Knight ◽  
Veena Goel ◽  
Sarah Poole ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Junaedi Yunding ◽  
Masyita Haerianti ◽  
Evidamayanti Evidamayanti ◽  
Evawaty Evawaty ◽  
Indrawati Indrawati

AbstractSevere adverse events such as cardiac arrest and death are often marked by abnormal vital signs a few hours before the event. Majene Regional General Hospital is the only hospital in the Majene Regency and is a reference center for all puskesmas in the Majene and surrounding districts. As a health service institution that organizes health services, it is closely related to the responsibility of providing emergency services. The Nurse Early Warning System (NEWS) is a development in emergency services for patients treated in hospitals, which serves as an early detection tool so that if there is a decrease in the patient's condition it can be known earlier can be handled more quickly. The purpose of this activity is to increase the knowledge and skills of nurses in the application of the nurse early warning system (NEWS) in monitoring the condition of patients in the care room. The implementation method starts from identifying the problem, delivering material about NEWS, demonstrating the assessment of the patient's condition and the nurse's independent practice in using NEWS. The evaluation results of this activity are the increase in knowledge and skills of nurses using NEWS in monitoring the condition of patients in the care room.


BMJ Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. e016034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Kumar ◽  
Jude Kemp ◽  
Clare Edwards ◽  
Rebecca M Pullon ◽  
Lise Loerup ◽  
...  

IntroductionSuccessive confidential enquiries into maternal deaths in the UK have identified an urgent need to develop a national early warning score (EWS) specifically for pregnant or recently pregnant women to aid more timely recognition, referral and treatment of women who are developing life-threatening complications in pregnancy or the puerperium. Although many local EWS are in use in obstetrics, most have been developed heuristically. No current obstetric EWS has defined the thresholds at which an alert should be triggered using evidence-based normal ranges, nor do they reflect the changing physiology that occurs with gestation during pregnancy.Methods and analysisAn observational cohort study involving 1000 participants across three UK sites in Oxford, London and Newcastle. Pregnant women will be recruited at approximately 14 weeks’ gestation and have their vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and temperature) measured at 4 to 6-week intervals during pregnancy. Vital signs recorded during labour and delivery will be extracted from hospital records. After delivery, participants will measure and record their own vital signs daily for 2 weeks. During the antenatal and postnatal periods, vital signs will be recorded on an Android tablet computer through a custom software application and transferred via mobile internet connection to a secure database. The data collected will be used to define reference ranges of vital signs across normal pregnancy, labour and the immediate postnatal period. This will inform the design of an evidence-based obstetric EWS.Ethics and disseminationThe study has been approved by the NRES committee South East Coast–Brighton and Sussex (14/LO/1312) and is registered with the ISRCTN (10838017). All participants will provide written informed consent and can withdraw from the study at any point. All data collected will be managed anonymously. The findings will be disseminated in international peer-reviewed journals and through research conferences.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orsola Gawronski ◽  
Federico Ferro ◽  
Corrado Cecchetti ◽  
Marta Luisa Ciofi Degli Atti ◽  
Immacolata Dall'oglio ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundClinical deterioration in children admitted to hospital wards often manifests through signs of increasing illness severity that may lead to unplanned Pediatric Intensive Care Unit admissions or cardiac arrest, if undetected. The Bedside Pediatric Early Warning System (BedsidePEWS) is a validated Canadian scoring system used at a large tertiary care children’ hospital to prevent critical illness and standardize the response to deteriorating children on the wards.MethodsA 6-month audit was performed to evaluate the use of the BedsidePEWS, escalation of patient observations, monitoring and medical reviews on the wards in 2018.Two research nurses performed weekly visits to the hospital wards to collect data on BedsidePEWS scores, medical reviews, type of monitoring and vital signs recorded. Data were described through means or medians according to the distribution. Inferences were calculated either with Chi-square, Student’s t test or Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney test, as appropriate (P <0.05 considered as significant).ResultsA total of 522 Vital Signs (VS) and score calculations on 177 patient clinical records were observed from 13 hospital inpatient wards. Frequency of VS and score documentation occurred <3 times per day in 33% of the observations. Adherence to the VS documentation frequency according to the hospital protocol was observed in 54% for all patients; for children with chronic health conditions (CHC) it was significantly lower than children admitted for acute medical conditions (47%, P=0.006). The BedsidePEWS score was correctly calculated and documented in 84% of the observed VS documentation events. Systolic blood Pressure was recorded in 79% and Temperature in 91% of the VS recording events. Patients within a 0-2 BedsidePEWS score range were all reviewed at least once a day by a physician. Only 50% of the patients in the 5-6 score range were reviewed within 4 hours and 42% of the patients with a score ≥7 within 2 hours. Transcutaneous Oxygen Saturation continuous monitoring was applied to 60% of the children at higher risk (BedsidePEWS ≥5).ConclusionsEscalation of patient observations, monitoring and medical reviews matching the BedsidePEWS is still suboptimal. Children with CHC are at higher risk of lower compliance. Impact of adherence to predefined response algorithms on patient outcomes should be further explored.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Sekar Dwi Purnamasari ◽  
Denissa Faradita Aryani

<div class="WordSection1"><p class="AbstractContent"><strong>Objective:</strong> Early warning system (EWS) is a physiological scoring to observe the patient’s condition not only in hospital wards but also in Emergency Department (ED). At an overcrowded ER that have slow of patient flow, EWS is use as an early detection of patient’s deterioration by observing the vital signs. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between nurses’ knowledge of initial assessment and the application of EWS at emergency department.</p><p class="AbstractContent"><strong>Methods: </strong>This was a quantitative study that used descriptive correlative with cross-sectional design toward 70 emergency nurses.</p><p class="AbstractContent"><strong>Results:</strong> The result showed there was a relationship between nurses’ knowledge of initial assessment and the application of early warning system at emergency room <em>(p</em>=0 .001)<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The higher the level of nurses’ knowledge, their behavior is better. It is recommended to maintain the use of EWS in ED that already good through training regularly (re-certification).</p><p class="AbstractContent"><strong> </strong></p><div><p class="Keywords"><strong>Keywords: </strong>Early warning system; emergency department; initial assessment; nurses’ knowledge.</p></div></div>


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Orsola Gawronski ◽  
Federico Ferro ◽  
Corrado Cecchetti ◽  
Marta Ciofi Degli Atti ◽  
Immacolata Dall’Oglio ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The aim of this study is to describe the adherence to the Bedside Pediatric Early Warning System (BedsidePEWS) escalation protocol in children admitted to hospital wards in a large tertiary care children’s hospital in Italy. Methods This is a retrospective observational chart review. Data on the frequency and accuracy of BedsidePEWS score calculations, escalation of patient observations, monitoring and medical reviews were recorded. Two research nurses performed weekly visits to the hospital wards to collect data on BedsidePEWS scores, medical reviews, type of monitoring and vital signs recorded. Data were described through means or medians according to the distribution. Inferences were calculated either with Chi-square, Student’s t test or Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney test, as appropriate (P < 0.05 considered as significant). Results A total of 522 Vital Signs (VS) and score calculations [BedsidePEWS documentation events, (DE)] on 177 patient clinical records were observed from 13 hospital inpatient wards. Frequency of BedsidePEWS DE occurred < 3 times per day in 33 % of the observations. Adherence to the BedsidePEWS documentation frequency according to the hospital protocol was observed in 54 % of all patients; in children with chronic health conditions (CHC) it was significantly lower than children admitted for acute medical conditions (47 % vs. 69 %, P = 0.006). The BedsidePEWS score was correctly calculated and documented in 84 % of the BedsidePEWS DE. Patients in a 0–2 BedsidePEWS score range were all reviewed at least once a day by a physician. Only 50 % of the patients in the 5–6 score range were reviewed within 4 h and 42 % of the patients with a score ≥ 7 within 2 h. Conclusions Escalation of patient observations, monitoring and medical reviews matching the BedsidePEWS is still suboptimal. Children with CHC are at higher risk of lower compliance. Impact of adherence to predefined response algorithms on patient outcomes should be further explored.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e000503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolene Moore ◽  
Duncan Thomson ◽  
Iona Pimentil ◽  
Bazezew Fekad ◽  
Wendy Graham

Early warning scores are points-based or colour-coded systems used to detect changes in physiological parameters and prompt earlier recognition and management of deteriorating patients. Vital signs recorded within a coloured zone corresponding to degree of derangement (‘trigger’) should prompt an action. The report of the UK Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health recommends the use of modified versions in the obstetric population. Currently, there is limited research into the effects of early warning scores in low-resource settings where maternal mortality remains high, and there is a need for low-cost, simple methods to reduce this. A modified obstetric early warning system (MOEWS) was introduced for parturients who had undergone surgical intervention at Felege Hiwot Referral Hospital, a tertiary centre in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. A guideline was developed to accompany the MOEWS, together with training of healthcare workers. Prior to introduction, the quality of postoperative monitoring was assessed through retrospective case note review. This was reassessed at 8 months and 11 months postimplementation, with assessment of response to ‘triggers’. A questionnaire and qualitative interviews were undertaken to establish views of healthcare workers on its acceptability and usability. Recording of postoperative vital signs improved with the implementation of the MOEWS and was sustained at both monitoring periods. The number of patients with vital signs within the coloured zones (‘trigger’) was reduced, although documented action to these remained low. Staff were positive towards the MOEWS, its impact on patient care and felt confident using the system. The introduction of a MOEWS in an Ethiopian referral hospital in this study appeared to improve the monitoring of postoperative patients. With modifications to suit the setting and senior clinician involvement, coupled with regular training, the early warning score is a feasible and acceptable tool to cope with the unique demands faced in this low-resource setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2083 (2) ◽  
pp. 022025
Author(s):  
Yu Liu ◽  
Xinzheng Wang ◽  
Huiling Zheng

Abstract This project designs a traffic safety early warning system based on 5G-V2X for the current situation of increasing traffic accidents in China, which concentrates on two modules of V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2I (vehicle-to-road) for early warning system design, with OBU (vehicle communication unit) and RSU (roadside communication unit) based on 5G-V2X communication technology to establish vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-road interactive communication, and realize V2V collision warning and V2I traffic light emergency event warning at intersections through collision risk warning algorithm and intersection passage assistance algorithm, thus alerting drivers to avoid dangerous situations and reducing the incidence of traffic accidents.


2020 ◽  
Vol 152 (5) ◽  
pp. 519
Author(s):  
Reena Rani ◽  
AsmitaMuthal Rathore ◽  
SunitaBai Meena ◽  
Deepti Goswami ◽  
Reva Tripathi

Author(s):  
Sheik Abdul Razak ◽  
Lisa Goldsworthy ◽  
Carmel Cullen ◽  
Sudhakar Adusumilli ◽  
Khalid Al Ansari ◽  
...  

Background: Establishing a paediatric early warning system in a paediatric Emergency Department (ED) is a complex process and more so with the COVID-19 pandemic. PUMA (PEWS Utilisation & Morality Avoidance) is a qualitative system assessment survey tool which assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the patient care safety processes and systems within a department. This model draws together evidence from two theoretically informed systematic reviews. Methods: The Sidra Medicine ED Quality group surveyed online 200 staff from the department of physicians/nursing team focussing on processes of monitoring patients and documentation, communication amongst the team and with parents, staff empowerment, situational awareness, escalation processes and response to the deteriorating child in the three broad domains of Detect, Prepare, and Act, with a further seven smaller domains (monitor, record, interpret, review, prepare, escalate, and evaluate). Survey analysis enabled to review current practice, identify areas that are working well and areas for improvement. Results and implications: The online survey helped achieve a 85% return rate and identify seven areas for improvement in the system. The spider diagram illustrates the areas of strength and weakness in the seven domains with respect to Detect, Prepare, and Act. We collaborated with the Cerner team, created an automatic documentation of vital signs from triage and treatment areas to the patient’s Electronic Medical Record by associating patient’s cardiac monitors to reduce manual errors and for the timely monitoring of vital signs. A one-day “Back to Basics Training” refresher course for the nursing team was conducted. A senior nurse, as a watcher in the triage and treatment area, identified children at high risk of deterioration. A Pediatric ED Situational Awareness Tool (PEDSAT) was developed locally and is in trial to help manage sick children effectively. Conclusion: PUMA, a novel system assessment tool, empowered our ED to tailor a quality program with an aim to deliver effective and efficient patient care.


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