AIMS
This study aims to establish the predictive performance of the NEWS2 scoring system in an acute care setting and develop its use as a risk tool.
BACKGROUND
When you are feeling unwell and visit the doctor, simple checks can help show how serious your condition might be. These checks help the medical team decide how urgently you need treatment and whether you should be treated at home or in the hospital where they can keep a close eye on you.
Things like your heart rate, how fast you’re breathing, the level of oxygen in your blood, and your blood pressure are all important signs. These are often called vital signs because they give vital information about your health.
In hospitals across the UK, doctors and nurses use a tool called the National Early Warning Score, or NEWS2 for short. This score helps them quickly assess how unwell someone might be. It’s recorded for everyone who comes to the hospital so that healthcare teams can take the right steps to keep people safe and get them the help they need.
RESEARCH
NEWS2 is a tool that NHS England has asked all acute hospitals and ambulance trusts to use. NEWS2 was originally designed to help identify patients that were at risk of becoming very unwell, for example those that were likely to need treatment in intensive care. However, NEWS2 is becoming more widely used in different ways, including to help make decisions about where patients, especially with infections, should receive care, and whether treatment is needed immediately as an emergency, or can be safely arranged through a booked appointment.
The project will use the extensive amount of data stored in the PIONEER database, which includes millions of vital signs and NEWS2 scores. The research team hope to understand where these scores can be most useful, including understanding whether there are situations or groups of patients where these scores may not work as well, for example patients with long term conditions who may normally have changes to their vital signs.
The project is not aiming to come up with a new version of NEWS2. Instead, the team want to thoroughly check how well NEWS2 works, by undertaking extensive testing to see how accurate it is for different groups of patients. By doing this, they will give doctors and nurses a better idea of when NEWS2 is helpful and when it might not be as reliable. Since NEWS2 is used in hospitals across the UK, what is learnt from this project could make a big difference in how doctors and nurses take care of patients.
PATIENT INVOLVEMENT
The researchers have formed a patient and public group with the support of the Patient Participation team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the University of Birmingham and the West Midlands Applied Research Collaboration for Acute/Social care patient group.
APPROVAL
This project was supported unanimously by the PIONEER Data Trust Committee.
This work is led by Dr Joseph Alderman, Speciality Registrar at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
