Recognizing Deteriorating Patient Condition in a General Care Setting
When introducing early warning tools and systems, as with any improvement opportunity, it's important to consider design, implementation and evaluation processes that include all relevant team members. Meaningful consultation and contribution is key to implementing and sustaining improvement. The following tools and resources will assist you in recognizing and responding to the deteriorating patient condition in a general care setting.
Patient resources
- Symptoms of sepsis, Sepsis Alliance (2018)
Provider resources
- National Early Warning Score Guidelines, HSE Ireland (2019)
- Safety Is Personal - Partnering with Patients and Families for the Safest Care, National Patient Safety Foundation Lucian Leape Institute (2014)
- Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Standard, The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2017)
- HIROC Risk Reference Sheets, Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (nd)
Need a helping hand?
If you are interested in learning more about early warning systems using an electronic health or medical record, the teams at either Hamilton Health Sciences via Alison Fox-Robichaud, MD (foxrob@hhsc.ca) or Michael Miletin, MD at William Osler Health System (Michael.Miletin@williamoslerhs.ca) would be happy to speak with you.
TeamSTEPPS Canada™
Seventy percent of all preventable harm events experienced by patients are linked to a breakdown in communication. TeamSTEPPS Canada Essentials Course helps healthcare organizations optimize patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals, including point-of-care staff. The TeamSTEPPS Canada Essentials course is built on an evidence-based framework to optimize performance across the healthcare delivery system. It consists of five key principles: team structure, communication, leading teams, situational monitoring and mutual support.
