scholarly journals Introduction of a modified obstetric early warning system ­(­MOEWS­)­ at an Ethiopian referral hospital: a feasibility assessment

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.

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

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
Meli Diana ◽  
Dimas Hadi Prayoga ◽  
Dini Prastyo Wijayanti

Background: Hospital service is a process that involves all elements in the hospital including nurses and inpatient rooms or nursing wards. Different inpatient conditions will be treated in separated wards, by the same token patients with unstable conditions are admitted in intensive care units, this procedure aims to reduce the mortality incidence due to sudden cardiac arrest, therefore early detection of patients’ clinical deterioration using the early warning score system performed by the nurse in the nursing wards is required. Objective: This review study is a summary of the early warning system implementation in the nursing wards. Design: The data was obtained from international journal providers Proquest and Ebsco databases. The author accessed unair.remotexs.co website. Review Methods: Narative Review. Results: Early warning score is an effective intervention for emergency detection in patients. Conclusion: Early detection clinical emergency or known as the Early Warning Score System (EWSS) is the application of a scoring system for early detection of patient's condition before a worsening situation occurs. The implementation of this scoring system is necessary due to the high rate of deterioration of patient conditions that requiring immediate management to prevent profound deterioration and its subsequent adverse effect Keywords : Early warning system;nurse care;literatur;review


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.


CJEM ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Skitch ◽  
Benjamin Tam ◽  
Michael Xu ◽  
Laura McInnis ◽  
Anthony Vu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTObjectivesEarly warning scores use vital signs to identify patients at risk of critical illness. The current study examines the Hamilton Early Warning Score (HEWS) at emergency department (ED) triage among patients who experienced a critical event during their hospitalization. HEWS was also evaluated as a predictor of sepsis.MethodsThe study population included admissions to two hospitals over a 6-month period. Cases experienced a critical event defined by unplanned intensive care unit admission, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or death. Controls were randomly selected from the database in a 2-to-1 ratio to match cases on the burden of comorbid illness. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate HEWS as a predictor of the likelihood of critical deterioration and sepsis.ResultsThe sample included 845 patients, of whom 270 experienced a critical event; 89 patients were excluded because of missing vitals. An ROC analysis indicated that HEWS at ED triage had poor discriminative ability for predicting the likelihood of experiencing a critical event 0.62 (95% CI 0.58-0.66). HEWS had a fair discriminative ability for meeting criteria for sepsis 0.77 (95% CI 0.72-0.82) and good discriminative ability for predicting the occurrence of a critical event among septic patients 0.82 (95% CI 0.75-0.90).ConclusionThis study indicates that HEWS at ED triage has limited utility for identifying patients at risk of experiencing a critical event. However, HEWS may allow earlier identification of septic patients. Prospective studies are needed to further delineate the utility of the HEWS to identify septic patients in the ED.


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.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e039061
Author(s):  
Eleanor J Mitchell ◽  
Zahida P Qureshi ◽  
Fredrick Were ◽  
Jane Daniels ◽  
George Gwako ◽  
...  

IntroductionFifteen million babies are born prematurely, before 37 weeks gestational age, globally. More than 80% of these are in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. 35% of all deaths in the first month of life are due to prematurity and the neonatal mortality rate is eight times higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) than in Europe. Early Warning Scores (EWS) are a way of recording vital signs using standardised charts to easily identify adverse clinical signs and escalate care appropriately. A range of EWS have been developed for neonates, though none in LMICs. This paper reports the findings of early work to examine if the use of EWS is feasible in LMICs.MethodsWe conducted an observational study to understand current practices for monitoring of preterm infants at a large national referral hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Using hospital records, data were collected over an 8-week period in 2019 on all live born infants born at <37 weeks and/or <2500 g (n=294, 255 mothers) in the first week of life. Using a chart adopted from the EWS developed by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, we plotted infants’ vital signs. In addition, we held group discussions with stakeholders in Kenya to examine opinions on use of EWS.ResultsRecording of vital signs was variable; only 63% of infants had at least one temperature recorded and 53% had at least one heart rate and respiratory rate recorded. Stakeholders liked the traffic-light system and simplicity of the chart, though recognised challenges, such as staffing levels and ability to print in colour, to its adoption.ConclusionEWS may standardise documentation and identify infants who are at higher risk of an adverse outcome. However, human and non-human resource issues would need to be explored further before development of an EWS for LMICs.


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.


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