Predictive power of the early warning scale for clinical deterioration of critically ill patients

Abstract

Aim: to evaluate the predictive power of the modified early warning scale to identify clinical deterioration in critically ill patients. Method: a descriptive, quantitative study in a teaching hospital with 214 individuals in the intensive care unit, through review of medical records, from March to December 2018. Results: the average length of stay was 10.42 days and respiratory diseases were the main cause of admission. Among the population studied, 136 (63.6%) were discharged and 78 (36.4%) died. Of the 78 patients (36.4%) who died, the mean early warning scale score at the moment of admission was 3.410 and the mean before death was 5.000. Conclusion: the early warning scale used in this study was considered a reliable instrument to identify clinical deterioration in patients and it is therefore recommended for the prevention of cardiorespiratory arrest in adults in the hospital environment.

Keywords

• índice de gravidade de doença
• unidade de terapia intensiva
• gravidade do paciente
• enfermagem.