scholarly journals Impact of the level of sickness on higher mortality in emergency medical admissions to hospital at weekends

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 236-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Mohammed ◽  
Muhammad Faisal ◽  
Donald Richardson ◽  
Robin Howes ◽  
Kevin Beatson ◽  
...  

Objective Routine administrative data have been used to show that patients admitted to hospitals over the weekend appear to have a higher mortality compared to weekday admissions. Such data do not take the severity of sickness of a patient on admission into account. Our aim was to incorporate a standardized vital signs physiological-based measure of sickness known as the National Early Warning Score to investigate if weekend admissions are: sicker as measured by their index National Early Warning Score; have an increased mortality; and experience longer delays in the recording of their index National Early Warning Score. Methods We extracted details of all adult emergency medical admissions during 2014 from hospital databases and linked these with electronic National Early Warning Score data in four acute hospitals. We analysed 47,117 emergency admissions after excluding 1657 records, where National Early Warning Score was missing or the first (index) National Early Warning Score was recorded outside ±24 h of the admission time. Results Emergency medical admissions at the weekend had higher index National Early Warning Score (weekend: 2.53 vs. weekday: 2.30, p < 0.001) with a higher mortality (weekend: 706/11,332 6.23% vs. weekday: 2039/35,785 5.70%; odds ratio = 1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20, p = 0.04) which was no longer seen after adjusting for the index National Early Warning Score (odds ratio = 0.99, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.09, p = 0.87). Index National Early Warning Score was recorded sooner (−0.45 h, 95% CI −0.52 to −0.38, p < 0.001) for weekend admissions. Conclusions Emergency medical admissions at the weekend with electronic National Early Warning Score recorded within 24 h are sicker, have earlier clinical assessments, and after adjusting for the severity of their sickness, do not appear to have a higher mortality compared to weekday admissions. A larger definitive study to confirm these findings is needed.

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e043721
Author(s):  
Donald Richardson ◽  
Muhammad Faisal ◽  
Massimo Fiori ◽  
Kevin Beatson ◽  
Mohammed Mohammed

ObjectivesAlthough the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and its latest version NEWS2 are recommended for monitoring deterioration in patients admitted to hospital, little is known about their performance in COVID-19 patients. We aimed to compare the performance of the NEWS and NEWS2 in patients with COVID-19 versus those without during the first phase of the pandemic.DesignA retrospective cross-sectional study.SettingTwo acute hospitals (Scarborough and York) are combined into a single dataset and analysed collectively.ParticipantsAdult (≥18 years) non-elective admissions discharged between 11 March 2020 and 13 June 2020 with an index or on-admission NEWS2 electronically recorded within ±24 hours of admission to predict mortality at four time points (in-hospital, 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours) in COVID-19 versus non-COVID-19 admissions.ResultsOut of 6480 non-elective admissions, 620 (9.6%) had a diagnosis of COVID-19. They were older (73.3 vs 67.7 years), more often male (54.7% vs 50.1%), had higher index NEWS (4 vs 2.5) and NEWS2 (4.6 vs 2.8) scores and higher in-hospital mortality (32.1% vs 5.8%). The c-statistics for predicting in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 admissions was significantly lower using NEWS (0.64 vs 0.74) or NEWS2 (0.64 vs 0.74), however, these differences reduced at 72hours (NEWS: 0.75 vs 0.81; NEWS2: 0.71 vs 0.81), 48 hours (NEWS: 0.78 vs 0.81; NEWS2: 0.76 vs 0.82) and 24hours (NEWS: 0.84 vs 0.84; NEWS2: 0.86 vs 0.84). Increasing NEWS2 values reflected increased mortality, but for any given value the absolute risk was on average 24% higher (eg, NEWS2=5: 36% vs 9%).ConclusionsThe index or on-admission NEWS and NEWS2 offers lower discrimination for COVID-19 admissions versus non-COVID-19 admissions. The index NEWS2 was not proven to be better than the index NEWS. For each value of the index NEWS/NEWS2, COVID-19 admissions had a substantially higher risk of mortality than non-COVID-19 admissions which reflects the increased baseline mortality risk of COVID-19.


PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e6947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiya Mitsunaga ◽  
Izumu Hasegawa ◽  
Masahiko Uzura ◽  
Kenji Okuno ◽  
Kei Otani ◽  
...  

The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the pre-hospital National Early Warning Score (pNEWS) and the pre-hospital Modified Early Warning Score (pMEWS) for predicting admission and in-hospital mortality in elderly patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). We also compare the value of the pNEWS with that of the ED NEWS (eNEWS) and ED MEWS (eMEWS) for predicting admission and in-hospital mortality. This retrospective, single-centre observational study was carried out in the ED of Jikei University Kashiwa Hospital, in Chiba, Japan, from 1st April 2017 to 31st March 2018. All patients aged 65 years or older were included in this study. The pNEWS/eNEWS were derived from seven common physiological vital signs: respiratory rate, peripheral oxygen saturation, the presence of inhaled oxygen parameters, body temperature, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate and Alert, responds to Voice, responds to Pain, Unresponsive (AVPU) score, whereas the pMEWS/eMEWS were derived from six common physiological vital signs: respiratory rate, peripheral oxygen saturation, body temperature, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate and AVPU score. Discrimination was assessed by plotting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calculating the area under the ROC curve (AUC). The median pNEWS, pMEWS, eNEWS and eMEWS were significantly higher at admission than at discharge (p < 0.001). The median pNEWS, pMEWS, eNEWS and eMEWS of non-survivors were significantly higher than those of the survivors (p < 0.001). The AUC for predicting admission was 0.559 for the pNEWS and 0.547 for the pMEWS. There was no significant difference between the AUCs of the pNEWS and the pMEWS for predicting admission (p = 0.102). The AUCs for predicting in-hospital mortality were 0.678 for the pNEWS and 0.652 for the pMEWS. There was no significant difference between the AUCs of the pNEWS and the pMEWS for predicting in-hospital mortality (p = 0.081). The AUC for predicting admission was 0.628 for the eNEWS and 0.591 for the eMEWS. The AUC of the eNEWS was significantly greater than that of the eMEWS for predicting admission (p < 0.001). The AUC for predicting in-hospital mortality was 0.789 for the eNEWS and 0.720 for the eMEWS. The AUC of the eNEWS was significantly greater than that of the eMEWS for predicting in-hospital mortality (p < 0.001). For admission and in-hospital mortality, the AUC of the eNEWS was significantly greater than that of the pNEWS (p < 0.001, p < 0.001), and the AUC of the eMEWS was significantly greater than that of the pMEWS (p < 0.01, p < 0.05). Our single-centre study has demonstrated the low utility of the pNEWS and the pMEWS as predictors of admission and in-hospital mortality in elderly patients, whereas the eNEWS and the eMEWS predicted admission and in-hospital mortality more accurately. Evidence from multicentre studies is needed before introducing pre-hospital versions of risk-scoring systems.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. e044354
Author(s):  
David Alexander Christian Messerer ◽  
Michael Fauler ◽  
Astrid Horneffer ◽  
Achim Schneider ◽  
Oliver Keis ◽  
...  

ObjectiveAssessment of the expertise of medical students in evaluating vital signs and their implications for the current risk of a patient, an appropriate monitoring frequency, and a proper clinical response.Methods251 second-year and 267 fifth-year medical students in a curriculum consisting of 6 years of medical school at Ulm University, Germany, were interviewed in a paper-based questionnaire. The students were asked to rate their proficiency in interpreting vital signs and to give pathological thresholds of vital signs. Based on the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2), nine vital signs of fictional patients were created and students were asked to comment on their clinical risk, to set an appropriate monitoring frequency as well as a clinical response.ResultsInterviewing medical students regarding each vital sign individually, the students indicated a pathological threshold in accordance with the NEWS2 for respiratory rate, temperature, and heart rate. By contrast, inappropriate pathological limits were given regarding oxygen saturation and systolic blood pressure. Translating the vital signs into nine fictional patients, fifth-year medical students overall chose an appropriate response in 78% (67%−78%, median±IQR). In detail, fifth-year students successfully identified patients at very high or low risk and allocated them accordingly. However, cases on the edge were often stratified inappropriately. For example, a fictional case with vital signs indicating a surging sepsis was frequently underappreciated (48.5%) and allocated to an insufficient clinical response by fifth-year students.ConclusionsRecognising the healthy as well as the deteriorating patient is a key ability for future physicians. NEWS2-based education might be a valuable tool to assess and give feedback on student’s knowledge in this vital professional activity.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e033301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Shamout ◽  
Tingting Zhu ◽  
Lei Clifton ◽  
Jim Briggs ◽  
David Prytherch ◽  
...  

ObjectivesEarly warning scores (EWS) alerting for in-hospital deterioration are commonly developed using routinely collected vital-sign data from the whole in-hospital population. As these in-hospital populations are dominated by those over the age of 45 years, resultant scores may perform less well in younger age groups. We developed and validated an age-specific early warning score (ASEWS) derived from statistical distributions of vital signs.DesignObservational cohort study.SettingOxford University Hospitals (OUH) July 2013 to March 2018 and Portsmouth Hospitals (PH) NHS Trust January 2010 to March 2017 within the Hospital Alerting Via Electronic Noticeboard database.ParticipantsHospitalised patients with electronically documented vital-sign observationsOutcomeComposite outcome of unplanned intensive care unit admission, mortality and cardiac arrest.Methods and resultsStatistical distributions of vital signs were used to develop an ASEWS to predict the composite outcome within 24 hours. The OUH development set consisted of 2 538 099 vital-sign observation sets from 142 806 admissions (mean age (SD): 59.8 (20.3)). We compared the performance of ASEWS to the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and our previous EWS (MCEWS) on an OUH validation set consisting of 581 571 observation sets from 25 407 emergency admissions (mean age (SD): 63.0 (21.4)) and a PH validation set consisting of 5 865 997 observation sets from 233 632 emergency admissions (mean age (SD): 64.3 (21.1)). ASEWS performed better in the 16–45 years age group in the OUH validation set (AUROC 0.820 (95% CI 0.815 to 0.824)) and PH validation set (AUROC 0.840 (95% CI 0.839 to 0.841)) than NEWS (AUROC 0.763 (95% CI 0.758 to 0.768) and AUROC 0.836 (95% CI 0.835 to 0.838) respectively) and MCEWS (AUROC 0.808 (95% CI 0.803 to 0.812) and AUROC 0.833 (95% CI 0.831 to 0.834) respectively). Differences in performance were not consistent in the elder age group.ConclusionsAccounting for age-related vital sign changes can more accurately detect deterioration in younger patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiya Mitsunaga ◽  
Masahiko Hujita ◽  
Izumu Hasegawa ◽  
Kei Otani ◽  
Kenji Okuno ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to evaluate the value of the Abbreviated National Early Warning Score (aNEWS) for predicting admissions and in-hospital mortality in elderly patients present to Emergency Department (ED). This retrospective, single-centred observational study was carried out in the ED of Minamitama Hospital, in Tokyo, Japan from 1 April 2018 to 30 April 2018. All of the patients aged 65 and older were included in this study. The aNEWS is based on six common physiological vital signs, including peripheral oxygen saturation, the presence of inhaled oxygen parameters, body temperature, systolic blood pressure, pulse rate, and the Alert, responds to Voice, responds to Pain, Unresponsive score. The scores range from 0 and 3 for each parameter. The aNEWS ranged from a score of 0 to a maximum of 17. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the predictive value of the aNEWS for admission and in-hospital mortality. The median aNEWS of patients admitted to the hospital was significantly higher than that of patients discharged from the ED (P<0.001). The median aNEWS of survivors was significantly higher than that of non-survivors (P<0.001). The Areas under the ROC Curve (AUC) for predicting admission was 0.773 [95% CI 0.7142 to 0.8317, P<0.001] for the aNEWS. The AUC for predicting in-hospital mortality was 0.791 [95% CI 0.604 to 0.978, P<0.001] for the aNEWS. Our single-centred study has demonstrated the utility of the aNEWS as a predictor of patient admission and in-hospital mortality in elderly patients.


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