Early warning score challenges and opportunities in the care of deteriorating patients 
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Early warning score challenges and opportunities in the care of deteriorating patients
. Dan Med J. 2018 Feb;65(2): Authors: Petersen JA Abstract Clinical deterioration of patients hospitalized on general wards is often preceded by worsening vital signs. If identified early and acted upon quickly, it is conjectured that further deterioration can be prevented. To this means the early warning score (EWS) was implemented in all hospitals in the Capital Region of Denmark in 2013. EWS consists of an aggregated weighted track-and-trigger system (TTS), to identify at-risk patients early, and a treatment protocol to escalate care appropriately and determine the level of competency of the provider. A similar system is endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians for use at hospitals in the UK. Despite wide dissemination of EWS and similar systems serious adverse events presaged by deteriorating vital signs continue to be a major source of morbidity. This is either due to inherent inadequacies of EWS, lack of adherence to the treatment protocol, or a combination of both.
All studies included in this thesis were conducted at Bispebjerg Hospital, an inner-city Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark with 500 beds and a catchment area of approximately 300,000. 
The aim of the thesis was to investigate the reasons for failure of the EWS by trying to answer the following research questions:
1. How often and why does the system fail?
2. What are th...
Source: Danish Medical Journal - Category: General Medicine Tags: Dan Med J Source Type: research