Editorial II: A warning on early-warning scores!

Early warning scores: a health warning.

Early warning scores are frequently used in UK adult emergency departments (EDs) and are gaining traction in paediatric emergency care. Like many innovations with inherent face validity, they have great appeal to clinicians, managers and commissioners. However, it is important to ensure unintended consequences and balancing measures are mitigated. We review the background to their development a...

An early warning on early warning systems!

Early warning scores for emergency admissions

A busy hospital is a dangerous place. Patients who apparently look well may be harbouring deteriorating vital signs. They may be in the wrong department for their condition, or waiting at home, due to lack of beds. They are probably being observed by amember of staff who has not been trained to recognise critical illness. In April 1999, theDepartment ofHealth established a review of adult criti...

Republished: paediatric early warning scores: Holy Grail and Achilles' heel.

Early Warning Scores (EWS) have become increasingly used by hospitals throughout the world to prevent unexpected admission to intensive care or even death in their inpatient population. It is well known that signs of deterioration are present well before collapse and by a combination of systems, EWS enable healthcare professionals to intervene at an appropriate time. A number of national bodies...

An Integrative Review of Pediatric Early Warning System Scores.

Increasingly, early warning system scores are being introduced into pediatric clinical practice to support the early recognition of and intervention for clinical deterioration in hospitalized children at risk. This integrative review explored what is known about early warning system scores with pediatric patients. Twenty-eight publications, including research, clinical practice articles, and co...