Biomedical Engineering Reference
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Fig. 1
NHS early warning scoring system
disruption of hospital work flow. Even before hospitalization close family mem-
bers of patients or even healthcare providers (general physician) may miss the
warning signs of potentially lethal but treatable illnesses leading to delayed hos-
pitalization, again leading to deaths or unplanned ICU admissions.
Common and potentially life-threatening conditions like severe asthma,
impending heart attack, and serious infections (sepsis) are associated with delayed
recognition.
Research has shown that a constellation of easily obtained clinical signs may
predict future deterioration of clinical status in patients. This is applicable to both
hospital and pre-hospital settings. These clinical signs are—respiratory rate, heart
rate, blood pressure, body temperature, consciousness status, and percent oxygen
saturation of blood (%SPO
2
) which is obtained by a simple and cheap instrument.
NHS Early Warning Score
Manual recording of all these signs (except % SPO
2
) is possible but multiple
factors lead to suboptimal acquisition of these data. Once obtained these signs
become variables for a simple calculation of a score commonly known as NHS
Early Warning Score(NEWS) (Fig.
1
). This score is a robust indicator of future
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