New CE Webinars on Early Warning Scores
Early warning system (EWS) scores are tools used by hospital care teams to recognize the early signs of clinical deterioration to initiate early intervention. These tools involve assigning a numeric value to several physiologic parameters (e.g., systolic blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, level of consciousness, and urine output) to derive a composite score that is used to identify a patient. Recent modifications have improved the consistency of patient outcomes.
Inpatient Telemetry Monitoring: Best Practices
Despite updated telemetry standards published in 2017 by the American Heart Association, there are still many aspects of telemetry that have not been addressed nor studied to truly determine what improves outcomes. In 2020, the Veterans Health Administration, representing the largest health care organization in the world, released a comprehensive guidebook for telemetry. This webinar will review the key content in this guidebook focusing on implementation of evidenced-based best practices.
COVID-19 Clinical Deterioration outside the ICU: Prediction, Detection, and Escalation
Since March 2020, CDC data indicates that more than 1 million people in the US have been infected by COVID-19. Hospitals in various parts of the US continue to face shortages in ICU bed capacity and staff. The diversity in clinical presentation and the potential for rapid deterioration requires effective surveillance of inpatients not presently requiring critical care support.
Warning: Patient at risk! Applying MEWS to Save Lives.
Today, hospitals are treating increasingly complex patients with multiple co-morbidities. Clinical deterioration on the floor is difficult to detect so it is hard for our caregivers to know which patients may need extra attention. Modified Early Warning Scoring (MEWS) is a tool designed to identify those patients at risk using readily available vital signs data. The score assists providers in triaging patients to an appropriate level of medical care. This webinar will present the evidence behind MEWS, in its various forms, and how it is used by clinicians to evaluate and predict which patients are at risk of clinical deterioration.
Beyond SIRS: Rethinking Sepsis Screening in the Hospital
This webinar will provide an overview of the burden of sepsis in the hospital and review the current recommendations for sepsis management. Various published tools for sepsis screening, including SIRS and QSOFA, and comparing their accuracy to one another and general early warning scores, such as MEWS and NEWS will be discussed. Additionally, there will be a review of the limitations regarding the subjective assessment of sepsis, paying particular attention to who is best situated to answer the question, “Do you suspect infection?” The speaker will share research from the University of Chicago using big data analytics to improve detection and decrease the burden of sepsis screening in the hospital and demonstrate how that can be integrated into the electronic medical record.