Abstract
AimEarly warning scores are commonly used in hospital settings, but little is known about their use in care homes. This study aimed to evaluate the impacts of National Early Warning Scores alongside other measures in this setting.DesignConvergent parallel design.MethodsQuantitative data from 276 care home residents from four care homes were used to analyse the relationship between National Early Warning Scores score, resident outcome and functional daily living (Barthel ADL (Barthel Index for Activities of Daily Living)) and Rockwood (frailty). Interviews with care home staff (N = 13) and care practitioners (N = 4) were used to provide qualitative data.ResultsA statistically significant link between National Early Warning Scores (p = .000) and Barthel ADL (p = .013) score and hospital admissions was found, while links with Rockwood were insignificant (p = .551). Care home staff reported many benefits of National Early Warning Scores, including improved communication, improved decision‐making and role empowerment. Although useful, due to the complexity of the resident population's existing health conditions, National Early Warning Scores alone could not act as a diagnostic tool.
Highlights
Warning scores (EWS) are tools designed to detect patients at risk of unexpected catastrophic deterioration in general, acute ward situations. Morgan et al (1997) observed that many patients who were unexpectedly admitted to ICU had shown minor, premonitory disturbances of their physiology for several hours before action was taken
This paper focuses on a study in which technology-enabled National Early Warning Score (NEWS) was introduced into care homes in a locality in the north of England in 2017
The implementation featured the use of Bluetooth-enabled clinical measurement devices which are synched with a tablet device to give an overall score, along with a short training programme provided by a practice educator to ensure appropriate use. The purpose of this implementation was to consider the factors affecting the adoption of NEWS in care homes and explore if NEWS alone was an indicator of illness in this population
Summary
Warning scores (EWS) are tools designed to detect patients at risk of unexpected catastrophic deterioration in general, acute ward situations. Morgan et al (1997) observed that many patients who were unexpectedly admitted to ICU had shown minor, premonitory disturbances of their physiology for several hours before action was taken. Morgan et al (1997) observed that many patients who were unexpectedly admitted to ICU had shown minor, premonitory disturbances of their physiology for several hours before action was taken. Warning scores (EWS) are tools designed to detect patients at risk of unexpected catastrophic deterioration in general, acute ward situations. They suggested that early intervention on detection of these signs might improve patient outcomes and proposed a score system aggregated from ratings of vital signs that could be used to trigger intervention (Morgan et al, 1997). It has proved difficult to demonstrate that any of these activities reduce morbidity and mortality in ways that can be attributed
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