Recognizing Deteriorating Patient Condition in a Paediatric Setting
When introducing early warning tools and systems, it's important to consider design, implementation and evaluation processes that include all relevant team members, as with any improvement opportunity. 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 paediatric setting.
Resources to share with your patients
- SIGNS - Spot Severe Illness in Infants, Children & Adolescents, SIGNS for Kids Consortium (2022)
- Heavy bleeding after birth (post-partum haemorrhage) patient information leaflet, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2016)
- Jaundice and Kernicterus, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (nd)
Additional provider resources
- Safe system framework for children at risk of deterioration, Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (2022)
- Bedside Paediatric Early Warning System (video), Bedside Clinical Systems (2017)
- Standard 9 – Recognising and responding to clinical deterioration in acute health care: safety and quality improvement guide, The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2012)
- HIROC Risk Reference Sheets, Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (nd)
- Safety Is Personal - Partnering with Patients and Families for the Safest Care, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2014)
Bedside Paediatric Early Warning Systems
The Hospital for Sick Children has implemented a bedside pediatric early warning system across their organization and has supported many other paediatric centers in doing the same. They would be happy to help your team. Please email Kristen.middaugh@sickkids.ca for more information.
Additionally, if you would like to learn more about the paediatric rapid response processes, the teams at either IWK Health Care or the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario would be happy to share their specialized pediatric outreach teams’ approach with you. Please contact Stacy Burgess (Stacy.Burgess@iwk.nshealth.ca) at IWK Health Care, or either Christa Ramsay (cramsay@cheo.on.ca) or Dr. Anna-Theresa Lobos (alobos@cheo.on.ca) at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario to learn more.
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.
