Marjon Borgert

33 Standardized measurement of the Modified Early Warning Score 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 ^eƉteŵďer Kctoďer Eoveŵďer AE Protocol AE Control RRT Protocol RRT Control ■ ▲ ▼ • • • • ■ ■ ■ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▼ ▼ /ncidence ;Ɖer ϭϬϬϬ adŵissionsͿ Figure 3. Incidence of AE and RRT activations per 1000 hospital admissions during the whole three study months. DISCUSSION Applying a protocol in which nurses have to measure the MEWS at least three times daily leads to better compliance and more reliable activation of the patients’ own physician or the RRT compared to leaving frequency of measurement up to nurses themselves. Therefore, imposing regular measurements of the MEWS could actually lead to enhanced patient safety. In this study, a multi parameter system was used to ensure more comprehensive measurements of vital signs and thus a greater chance in detecting deterioration. In theory the approach of a structured monitoring plan could also be applied to single parameter systems but their more extreme trigger points might lead to late alerts for physiological deterioration. 27