Open AccessRespiratory rates observed over 15 seconds compared with rates measured using the RRate app. Practice-based evidence from an observational study of acutely ill adult medical patients during their hospital admission
Author(s) -
Immaculate Nakitende,
Teopista Namujwiga,
Dustin Dunsmuir,
J. Mark Ansermino,
Lucien Wasingya-Kasereka,
John Kellett
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
acute medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-4892
pISSN - 1747-4884
DOI - 10.52964/amja.0792
Subject(s) - medicine , early warning score , respiratory rate , observational study , respiratory system , emergency medicine , clinical practice , critically ill , intensive care medicine , physical therapy , heart rate , blood pressure
Background: counting respiratory rate over 60 seconds can be impractical in a busy clinical setting. Methods: 870 respiratory rates of 272 acutely ill medical patients estimated from observations over 15 seconds and those calculated by a computer algorithm were compared. Results: The bias of 15 seconds of observations was 1.85 breaths per minute and 0.11 breaths per minute for the algorithm derived rate, which took 16.2 SD 8.1 seconds. The algorithm assigned 88% of respiratory rates their correct National Early Warning Score points, compared with 80% for rates from 15 seconds of observation. Conclusion: The respiratory rates of acutely ill patients are measured nearly as quickly and more reliably by a computer algorithm than by observations over 15 seconds.