Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England
Objectives Early warning scores were developed to improve recognition of clinical deterioration in acute hospital settings. In England, the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is increasingly being recommended at a national level for use outside such settings. In 2015, the West of England Academic H...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2018-10-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/10/e022528.full |
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| author | Emer Brangan Anne Pullyblank Sabi Redwood Jonathan Banks Heather Brant Hein Le Roux |
| author_facet | Emer Brangan Anne Pullyblank Sabi Redwood Jonathan Banks Heather Brant Hein Le Roux |
| author_sort | Emer Brangan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives Early warning scores were developed to improve recognition of clinical deterioration in acute hospital settings. In England, the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is increasingly being recommended at a national level for use outside such settings. In 2015, the West of England Academic Health Science Network supported the roll-out of NEWS across a range of non-acute-hospital healthcare sectors. Research on the use of NEWS outside acute hospitals is limited. The objective of this study was to explore staff experiences of using NEWS in these new settings.Design Thematic analysis of qualitative semi-structured interviews with purposefully sampled healthcare staff.Setting West of England healthcare settings where NEWS was being used outside acute hospitals—primary care, ambulance, referral management, community and mental health services.Participants Twenty-five healthcare staff interviewed from primary care (9), ambulance (3), referral management/acute interface (5), community (4) and mental health services (3), and service commissioning (1).Results Participants reported that NEWS could support clinical decision-making around escalation of care, and provide a clear means of communicating clinical acuity between clinicians and across different healthcare organisations. Challenges with implementing NEWS varied—in primary care, clinicians had to select patients for NEWS and adopt different methods of clinical assessment, whereas for paramedics it fitted well with usual clinical practice and was used for all patients. In community services and mental health, modifications were ‘needed’ to make the tool relevant to some patient populations.Conclusions This study demonstrated that while NEWS can work for staff outside acute hospital settings, the potential for routine clinical practice to accommodate NEWS in such settings varied. A tailored approach to implementation in different settings, incorporating guidance supported by further research on the use of NEWS with specific patient groups in community settings, may be beneficial, and enhance staff confidence in the tool. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b058cc0b2d5a42a99c124ca3ceed85e2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-b058cc0b2d5a42a99c124ca3ceed85e22025-08-20T03:52:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552018-10-0181010.1136/bmjopen-2018-022528Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of EnglandEmer Brangan0Anne Pullyblank1Sabi Redwood2Jonathan Banks3Heather Brant4Hein Le Roux51 The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol, UK3 West of England Academic Health Science Network, Bristol, UKPopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, UKNIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKPopulation Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK3 Patient Safety Collaborative, West of England Academic Health Science Network, Bristol, UKObjectives Early warning scores were developed to improve recognition of clinical deterioration in acute hospital settings. In England, the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) is increasingly being recommended at a national level for use outside such settings. In 2015, the West of England Academic Health Science Network supported the roll-out of NEWS across a range of non-acute-hospital healthcare sectors. Research on the use of NEWS outside acute hospitals is limited. The objective of this study was to explore staff experiences of using NEWS in these new settings.Design Thematic analysis of qualitative semi-structured interviews with purposefully sampled healthcare staff.Setting West of England healthcare settings where NEWS was being used outside acute hospitals—primary care, ambulance, referral management, community and mental health services.Participants Twenty-five healthcare staff interviewed from primary care (9), ambulance (3), referral management/acute interface (5), community (4) and mental health services (3), and service commissioning (1).Results Participants reported that NEWS could support clinical decision-making around escalation of care, and provide a clear means of communicating clinical acuity between clinicians and across different healthcare organisations. Challenges with implementing NEWS varied—in primary care, clinicians had to select patients for NEWS and adopt different methods of clinical assessment, whereas for paramedics it fitted well with usual clinical practice and was used for all patients. In community services and mental health, modifications were ‘needed’ to make the tool relevant to some patient populations.Conclusions This study demonstrated that while NEWS can work for staff outside acute hospital settings, the potential for routine clinical practice to accommodate NEWS in such settings varied. A tailored approach to implementation in different settings, incorporating guidance supported by further research on the use of NEWS with specific patient groups in community settings, may be beneficial, and enhance staff confidence in the tool.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/10/e022528.full |
| spellingShingle | Emer Brangan Anne Pullyblank Sabi Redwood Jonathan Banks Heather Brant Hein Le Roux Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England BMJ Open |
| title | Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England |
| title_full | Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England |
| title_fullStr | Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England |
| title_short | Using the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) outside acute hospital settings: a qualitative study of staff experiences in the West of England |
| title_sort | using the national early warning score news outside acute hospital settings a qualitative study of staff experiences in the west of england |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/10/e022528.full |
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