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Bedside electronic capture of clinical observations and automated clinical alerts to improve compliance with an Early Warning Score protocol
Citation
Jones, S and Mullally, M and Ingleby, S and Buist, M and Bailey, M and Eddleston, JM, Bedside electronic capture of clinical observations and automated clinical alerts to improve compliance with an Early Warning Score protocol, Critical Care and Resuscitation, 13, (2) pp. 83-88. ISSN 1441-2772 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2011 The Australasian Medical Publishing Company
Official URL: http://www.cicm.org.au/journal.php
Abstract
Background: Failure to comply with clinical protocols and
failure of communication to ensure delivery of the most
appropriate timely clinical responses to patients whose
conditions are acutely deteriorating have been shown to be
significant causative factors associated with inhospital
adverse events.
Objective: To determine whether automated clinical alerts
increase compliance with an Early Warning Score (EWS)
protocol and improve patient outcomes.
Methods: We performed a historically controlled study of
bedside electronic capture of observations and automated
clinical alerts. The primary outcome measure was hospital
length of stay (LOS); secondary outcome measures were
compliance with the EWS protocol, cardiac arrest incidence,
critical care utilisation and hospital mortality.
Results: Between baseline and intervention, 1481
consecutive patients were recruited generating 13 668
observation sets. There was a reduction in hospital LOS
between the baseline and alert phase (9.7 days v 6.9 days,
P < 0.001). EWS accuracy improved from 81% to 100%
with electronic calculation. Clinical attendance to patients
with EWS 3, 4 or 5 increased from 29% at baseline to 78%
with automated alerts (P < 0.001). For patients with an EWS
> 5, clinical attendance increased from 67% at baseline to
96% with automatic alerts (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Electronic recording of patient observations
linked to a computer system that calculates patient risk and
then issues automatic graded alerts can improve clinical
Crit Care Resusc 2011; 13: 8388
attendance to unstable general medical ward patients.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | bedside electronic capture, clinical observations, automated clinical alerts, Early Warning Score protocol, clinical protocol |
| Research Division: | Medical and Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Clinical Sciences |
| Research Field: | Intensive Care |
| Objective Division: | Health |
| Objective Group: | Health and Support Services |
| Objective Field: | Diagnostic Methods |
| Author: | Buist, M (Professor Michael Buist) |
| ID Code: | 78044 |
| Year Published: | 2011 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 48 |
| Deposited By: | Medicine (Discipline) |
| Deposited On: | 2012-06-13 |
| Last Modified: | 2012-08-30 |
| Downloads: | 12 View Download Statistics |
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