改良早期预警评分能够识别院前危重症患者及预测死亡风险

院前急救患者通常病情急、变化快,是否能够早期识别危重症患者并给予及时准确的处理,有赖于医护人员对病情的正确评估[1].但是院前急救处置患者时间短,医疗设备条件有限,因此迫切需要一项准确快速,简单易行的评分标准. 改良早期预警评分(Modified Early Warning Score,MEWS)是以体温、呼吸、脉搏、血压、意识为评价指标的快速病情评估系统(表1)[2].它能快速评估病情与预后,因方法简单易行,准确率高,受到国内外急诊医学界的广泛认可[3-7].     

校正改良式早期预警系统在心胸专科急诊分诊中的应用

目的将改良式早期预警(modified early warning score,MEWS)与胸科专科预检标准相结合,构建适用于心胸专科急诊分诊的校正MEWS系统,探讨其对于心胸专科急诊预检分诊工作的影响。方法便利抽样法选取上海交通大学附属胸科医院2015年9-12月急诊就诊患者8994例为对照组,2016年1-3月急诊就诊患者9138例为观察组。对照组患者按常规的急诊分诊流程处理,观察组患者实施校正MEWS系统的评分结果进行预检及分区分级处置,比较两组患者急诊分诊时间及分诊正确率、高危胸痛患者识别率、应急处理率,医生、护士及患者满意率。结果两组患者的分诊时间、分诊正确率、有效识别高危胸痛患者、应急处理率、患者满意率经比较,观察组患者均优于对照组,差异均有统计学意义(均P0.05)。结论校正MEWS评分系统便于急诊护士快速准确地分诊,同时可有效识别胸痛高危患者,提高心胸专科急诊预检分诊工作的可操作性及准确率,有助于急诊患者在最短时间内得到规范、科学、适当、合理、及时的救治。     

Lactate improves the predictive ability of the National Early Warning Score 2 in the emergency department

AimsThe aim of this study was to compare the ability to predict 2-, 7-, 14-, and 30-day in-hospital mortality of lactate vs the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) vs the arithmetic sum of the NEWS2 plus the numerical value of lactate (NEWS2-L).MethodsThis was a prospective, multicentric, emergency department delivery, pragmatic cohort study. To determine the predictive capacity of lactate, we calculated the NEWS2 and NEWS2-L in adult patients (aged >18 years) transferred with high priority by ambulance to the emergency department in five hospitals of Castilla y Leon (Spain) between November 1, 2019, and September 30, 2020. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of each of the scales was calculated in terms of mortality for every time frame (2, 7, 14, and 30 days). We determined the cut-off point of each scale that offered highest sensitivity and specificity using the Youden index.ResultsA total of 1716 participants were included, and the in-hospital mortality rates at 2, 7, 14, and 30 days were of 7.8% (134 cases), 11.6% (200 cases), 14.2% (243 cases), and 17.2% (295 cases), respectively. The best cut-off point determined in the NEWS2 was 6.5 points (sensitivity of 97% and specificity of 59%), and for lactate, the cut-off point was 3.3 mmol/L (sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 72%). Finally, the combined NEWS2-L showed a cut-off point of 11.7 (sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 85%). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the NEWS2, lactate, and NEWS2-L in the validation cohort for 2-day mortality was 0.889, 0.856, and 0.923, respectively (p<0.001 in all cases).ConclusionsThe new score generated, NEWS2-L, obtained better statistical results than its components (NEWS2 and lactate) separately.     

Triage in the emergency department

Accurate patient triage to provide early identification of potentially seriously ill or high-risk infants and children is an important part of any emergency care system. Use of the SAVE-A-CHILD mnemonic in a busy ED setting provides systematic organization of important clinical observations that may serve as markers of serious disease. Early recognition of the high-risk patient will reduce morbidity and mortality. The discussion included may be helpful to emergency physicians in training their staff to provide a safe triage environment.     

Emergency Severity Index as a predictor of in-hospital mortality in suspected sepsis patients in the emergency department

ObjectivesTo demonstrate the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the Emergency Severity Index (ESI), quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA), Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) criteria, and National Early Warning Score (NEWS) for predicting in-hospital mortality and intensive care unit (ICU) admission in suspected sepsis patients.MethodsA retrospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary care hospital, Thailand. Suspected sepsis was defined by a combination of (1) hemoculture collection and (2) the initiation of intravenous antibiotics therapy during the emergency department (ED) visit. The accuracy of each scoring system for predicting in-hospital mortality and ICU admission was analyzed.ResultsA total of 8177 patients (median age: 62 years, 52.3% men) were enrolled in the study, 509 (6.2%) of whom died and 1810 (22.1%) of whom were admitted to the ICU. The ESI and NEWS had comparable accuracy for predicting in-hospital mortality (AUC of 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68 to 0.73 and AUC of 0.73, 95% CI 0.70 to 0.75) and ICU admission (AUC of 0.75, 95% CI 0.74 to 0.76 and AUC of 0.74, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.75). The ESI level 1–2 had the highest sensitivity for predicting in-hospital mortality (96.7%), and qSOFA ≥2 had the highest specificity (86.6%).ConclusionThe ESI was accurate and had the highest sensitivity for predicting in-hospital mortality and ICU admission in suspected sepsis patients in the ED. This confirms that the ESI is useful in both ED triage and predicting adverse outcomes in these patients.     

Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score predicts 1-year mortality

OBJECTIVE: To assess the predictive performance for 1-yr mortality of the previously derived and validated Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. PATIENTS: Consecutive adult (aged > or =18 yrs) emergency department patients presenting to an urban, tertiary care, university hospital were eligible if they had a clinically suspected infection as indicated by the decision to obtain a blood culture. The enrollment period was between February 1, 2000, and February 1, 2001. Of 3,926 eligible patient visits, 3,762 (96%) were enrolled and 3,102 unique first visits were analyzed. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A total of 667 patients (21.5%) died within 1 yr. The unadjusted 1-yr mortality rates for the MEDS risk groups were: very low risk, 7%; low risk, 20%; moderate risk, 37%; high risk, 64%; very high risk, 80%. Using a Cox proportional hazard model that controlled for age, sex, and Charlson co-morbidity index, the 1-yr hazard ratios compared with the baseline very low-risk group were: low risk, 2.2 (1.7-2.9); moderate risk, 3.5 (2.7-4.6); high risk, 6.7 (4.9-9.3); and very high risk, 10.5 (7.2-15.4). The groups were significantly different (p < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Although the score was initially derived for 28-day in-hospital mortality, our results indicate that the MEDS score also predicts patient survival at 1 yr after index hospital visit with suspected infection. The score needs external validation before widespread use.     

比较早期预警评分和改良早期预警评分在急诊的应用价值

目的：比较早期预警评分（EWS）和改良早期预警评分（MEWS）预测急诊住院患者死亡风险的能力。方法：随机抽取409名四川大学华西医院急诊住院患者,采用EWS和MEWS对患者进行评分,使用ROC曲线比较两者预测急诊住院患者死亡风险的能力。结果：EWS预测患者住院的曲线面积为0.849±0.132,其最佳截断值为4分;MEWS预测急诊患者住院的曲线下面积为0.876±0.124,其最佳截断值为5分。结论：MEWS较EWS对于预测急诊住院患者死亡风险有较高的效能,还可以进一步改进提高其预测能力。     

Racial Disparity in Emergency Department Triage

Background

Previous reports of lower triage acuity scores and longer Emergency Department (ED) wait times for African Americans compared to Caucasians had insufficient information to determine if this was due to bias or appropriately based on medical history and clinical presentation.

Objective

(1) Determine if African Americans are assigned lower triage acuity scores (TAS) after adjusting for a number of demographic and clinical variables likely to affect triage scores. (2) Determine if lower TAS translate into clinically significant longer wait times to assignment to a treatment area.

Methods

This was a retrospective matched cohort design analysis of de-identified data extracted from the ED electronic medical record system, which included demographic and clinical information, as well as TAS, and ED process times. Triage scores were assigned using a 5-point scale (ESI), with 1 being most urgent and 5 being least urgent. Mean TAS and wait times to a treatment area for specific chief complaints were compared by race; after adjusting for age, gender, insurance status, time of day, day of week, presence of co-morbidities, and abnormal vital signs using a 1:1 matched case analysis.

Results

The overall mean TAS for African Americans was 2.97 vs. 2.81 for Caucasians (difference of 0.18; p < 0.001), translating to a lower acuity rating. African Americans had a significantly longer wait time to a treatment area compared to case-matched Caucasians (10.9 min; p < 0.001), with much larger differences in wait times noted within certain specific chief complaint categories.

Conclusion

Our current study supports the hypothesis that racial bias may influence the triage process.     

Copeptin combined with National Early Warning Score for predicting survival in elderly critical ill patients at emergency department

ObjectiveCopeptin, reflecting vasopressin release, as well as the National Early Warning Score (NEWS), reflecting the severity of critical illness, might qualify for survival prediction in elderly patients with critical illness. This prospective observational study aims at assessing the predictive value of copeptin combined with NEWS on the prognosis of elderly critical ill patients at emergency department (ED).MethodsWe analyzed serum copeptin levels and the NEWS at admission to the ED in a prospective, single-center, and observational study comprising 205 elderly patients with critical illness. Death within 30 days after admission to the ED was the primary end point.ResultsThe serum copeptin levels and the NEWS in the non-survivor patients group were higher than those in the survivor group [30.35 (14.20, 38.91) vs 17.53 (13.01, 25.20), P = 0.001 and 9.0 (7.0–10.0) vs 7.0 (6.0–8.0), P = 0.001]. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that copeptin, NEWS and copeptin combined with NEWS were all independent risk factors for 30-day mortality in elderly patients with critical illness. Copeptin, NEWS and copeptin combined with NEWS all performed well in predicting 30-day survival, with area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of 0.766 (95%CI, 0.702–0.822), 0.797 (95%CI, 0.744–0.877) and 0.854 (95%CI, 0.798–0.899) respectively. Using the Z test to compare the areas under the above three curves, copeptin combined with NEWS showed a higher predictive value for 30-day survival (P < 0.05). As we calculated, the optimal cut-off values of copeptin and NEWS using the Youden index were 19.78 pg/mL and 8.5 points, respectively. Risk stratification analysis showed that patients with both copeptin levels higher than 19.78 pg/mL and NEWS points higher than 8.5 points had the highest risk of death.ConclusionsCopeptin combined with NEWS have a stronger predictive power on the prognosis of elderly patients with critical illness at ED, comparing to either factor individually.     

改良早期预警评分在老年急诊中的应用

目的：探讨改良早期预警评分（MEWS）在老年急诊中的应用价值。方法：急诊科留观和抢救室的老年患者216例进行MEWS评分并追踪预后至就诊后四周,对既往急诊收住ICU的老年患者61例进行MEWS评分并行回顾性分析。结果：MEWS评分越高,死亡构成比明显增加。死亡组MEWS评分显著高于存活组（P〈0．01）。未收住ICU的患者的MEWS评分显著低于收住ICU患者评分（P〈0．05）。6h内发生猝死组MEWS评分与6h后死亡组MEWS评分无显著性差异（P〉0.05）。结论：MEWS评分用于老年急诊患者可以判断疾病严重程度,具有识别“潜在危重病”的作用,且简便、实用,便于在急诊中推广。     

急诊呼吸系统疾病患者基于改良早期预警评分的护理干预

目的：探讨急诊呼吸系统疾病患者病情评估采用改良早期预警评分的应用效果。方法选取急诊科就诊的呼吸系统疾病患者800例,采用随机数字表法分为观察组和对照组各400例,对照组给予常规护理,观察组基于改良早期预警评分给予分层护理。观察比较2组患者意外事件发生率、患者满意度。结果对照组发生意外事件29例,观察组发生意外事件14例,观察组意外事件发生率低于对照组（字2=5.53,P=0.019）;观察组患者满意度高于对照组（Z=4.73,P<0.001）。结论改良早期预警评分有利于对急诊呼吸系统疾病患者病情分层化,根据不同病情给予针对性护理干预。减少意外事件发生,提高患者满意度,并且改良早期预警评分简单、实用,值得在临床推广应用。     

Emergency department overcrowding: the Emergency Department Cardiac Analogy Model (EDCAM)

Increasing patient numbers, changing demographics and altered patient expectations have all contributed to the current problem with 'overcrowding' in emergency departments (EDs). The problem has reached crisis level in a number of countries, with significant implications for patient safety, quality of care, staff 'burnout' and patient and staff satisfaction. There is no single, clear definition of the cause of overcrowding, nor a simple means of addressing the problem. For some hospitals, the option of ambulance diversion has become a necessity, as overcrowded waiting rooms and 'bed-block' force emergency staff to turn patients away. But what are the options when ambulance diversion is not possible? Christchurch Hospital, New Zealand is a tertiary level facility with an emergency department that sees on average 65,000 patients per year. There are no other EDs to whom patients can be diverted, and so despite admission rates from the ED of up to 48%, other options need to be examined. In order to develop a series of unified responses, which acknowledge the multifactorial nature of the problem, the Emergency Department Cardiac Analogy model of ED flow, was developed. This model highlights the need to intervene at each of three key points, in order to address the issue of overcrowding and its associated problems.