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Introducing an early warning scoring system in a district general hospital
Author(s) -
Sharpley Julie T,
Holden Janet C
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
nursing in critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1478-5153
pISSN - 1362-1017
DOI - 10.1111/j.1362-1017.2004.0063.x
Subject(s) - outreach , warning system , scoring system , medical emergency , unit (ring theory) , service (business) , early warning score , general hospital , early warning system , medicine , operations management , nursing , computer science , emergency medicine , psychology , business , engineering , political science , surgery , telecommunications , mathematics education , marketing , law
Summary • One of the critical care outreach service's aims in this local hospital was to develop an assessment tool to help identify patients in danger of deterioration • This paper describes the introduction of an early warning scoring system between April 2001 and March 2002 to the surgical unit of a district general hospital • The informal and gradual approach used to optimize the effectiveness of introducing the early warning scoring system is highlighted • Explanations are given of the training processes undertaken, the pilot evaluation and lessons learned from the process • Using the experiences of the outreach service in introducing the early warning scoring system, this paper aims to provide thought for others considering a similar initiative in their area