Pediatric early warning system
Other Scholarly Work
Totapally, BR, Skaletzky, S, Pelligra, A et al. (2009). Pediatric early warning system
. International pediatrics : the journal of the Miami Children's Hospital, 24(1), 26-30.
Totapally, BR, Skaletzky, S, Pelligra, A et al. (2009). Pediatric early warning system
. International pediatrics : the journal of the Miami Children's Hospital, 24(1), 26-30.
A significant proportion of children admitted to a hospital develop physiologic instability and some of them progress to respiratory or cardiopulmonary arrest. In spite of well-trained resuscitation teams, cardiopulmonary arrest leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Several other measures have been recently adapted to recognize and stabilize unstable patients in non-ICU areas and prevent respiratory and cardiopulmonary arrests. Rapid Response Teams and Pediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) scores are two such initiatives. We describe the evolution and implementation of PEWS in our hospital. Up to 3% of children admitted to a hospital eventually require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (1). Cardiopulmonary arrest in children, whether in a in-hospital or out of hospital setting, is associated with a high mortality and morbidity (2,3,4). It has been reported that physiologic instability exists in many patients for several hours before catastrophic deterioration occurs. This window of time provides an opportunity to intervene early, in patients whose deterioration may be detected prior to cardiopulmonary arrest, thereby improving outcomes.
