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Children's lives will be saved thanks to an award-wining early warning system
15 November 2007
Some children being cared for in hospital deteriorate to a critical condition very rapidly. One hospital team has developed a tool which can help the most junior and most senior members of the healthcare team alike to act quickly to identify a child's condition worsening.
In a review of unplanned admissions to specialist units such as high dependency (HDU) or intensive care (ITU) at the Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust a significant number of children showed clear signs of deterioration in the 24 hours before their admission from the ward to ITU.
Advanced nurse practitioner Gerri Sefton and members of a multi-disciplinary team at the trust developed a Paediatric Early Warning (PEW) system which contains criteria to cross-reference against the routine observations carried out. If the criteria are breached the PEW tool is activated and a rapid response put in place.
As a result of this new system the number of unplanned admissions from wards to HDU has reduced by a third and the total bed days of those admitted to the unit has decreased by 40 percent. Their significant achievements have been recognised by the Bupa Foundation, winning the medical research charity's first ever Patient Safety Award.
Ms Sefton, said: "Winning the Bupa Foundation Award is great recognition of the hard work of the team and will help us develop the project further."
The vice-chairman of the Bupa Foundation, Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen, said: "Sometimes slow deterioration in a patient's condition is hard to detect. This team developed an early warning system for children, which significantly improves patient safety."
Ms Sefton received her Bupa Foundation award at a ceremony at Lincoln's Inn in London on the evening of 14 November 2007.
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