Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36424101›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2022

Effect of implementing the NEWS2 escalation protocol in a large acute NHS trust: a retrospective cohort analysis of mortality, workload and ability of early warning score to predict death within 24 hours.

Sarah Forster, Tricia M McKeever, Dominick Shaw

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In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sarah ForsterRespiratory Medicine, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Nottingham, UK sarahforster@nhs.net.ORCID 0000-0001-9424-6543
Tricia M McKeeverDivision of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Dominick ShawRespiratory Medicine, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Nottingham, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo describe the inpatient population, establish patterns in admission and mortality over a 4-year period in different cohorts and assess the prognostic ability and workload implications of introducing the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) and associated escalation protocol.

designRetrospective cohort analyses of medical and surgical inpatient admissions.

settingLarge teaching hospital with tertiary inpatient care and a major trauma centre employing an electronic observations platform, initially with a local early warning score, followed by NEWS2 introduction in June 2019.

participants332 682 adult patients were admitted between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019. OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality, workload and ability of early warning score to predict death within 24 hours.

resultsAdmissions rose by 19% from 76 055 in 2016 to 90 587 in 2019. Total bed days rose by 10% from 433 382 to 477 485. Mortality fell from 3.7% to 3.1% and was significantly lower in patients discharged from a surgical specialty, 1.0%-1.2% (p<0.001). Total observations recorded increased by 14% from 1 976 872 in 2016 to 2 249 118 in 2019. 65% of observations were attributable to patients under medical specialties, 34% to patients under surgical specialties. Recorded escalations to the registrar were stable from January 2016 to May 2019 but trebled following the introduction of NEWS2 in June 2019.

conclusionsThere was an increase in hospital inpatient activity between 2016 and 2019, associated with a reduction in mortality and percentage of observations calculated as reaching threshold NEWS2 score of 7 for escalation to the registrar. The introduction of the NEWS2, with a higher sensitivity and lower specificity, when allied to its escalation protocol, was associated with a significant increase in actual recorded escalations to the registrar. This was more marked in the surgical population and would support refining threshold scores based on admission characteristics when developing the next iteration of NEWS.

Indexed as

Early Warning ScoreWorkloadAdultHospitals, TeachingHumansRetrospective StudiesState MedicineEPIDEMIOLOGYGENERAL MEDICINE (see Internal Medicine)INTENSIVE & CRITICAL CAREINTERNAL MEDICINESURGERY

Identifiers

PMID36424101
PMCPMC9693871

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.