Dubai: The Ministry of Health and Prevention has launched the electronic Early Warning Scores (EWS) project to assist clinicians in taking evidence-based decisions for different age and obstetric groups.
Paediatric Early Warning Score (PEWS), Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS, and Modified Early Obstetric Warning Score (MEOWS) will facilitate clinicians in detecting early signs of clinical or physiological deterioration.
The PEWS, MEWS and MEOWS are standardised evidence-based risk-assessment tools to identify patients showing signs and symptoms of clinical instability before their conditions deteriorate. These tools are based on physiological indicators and routine observations. They detect changes in a patient’s physiology, which will be reflected in the score. The score will be a clear indication to the clinicians if the patient is improving or deteriorating. The higher the score, the more intervention and support are required.
Awadh Seghayer Al Katbi, assistant undersecretary for support services, said the ministry’s adoption of ‘Wareed Project’ is part of its strategy to develop effective health information systems.
Mubaraka Ebrahim, director of the ministry’s health information systems department, said the ministry’s facilities previously used paper-based early warning scoring tools. Nurses had to document vital signs in electronic medical records (EMRs) and repeat the documentation in paper form. Users then calculated the score for each criterion based on the reference grid manually. The clinicians were notified verbally, and the data documented as a free text note in EMR. The chances of human calculation errors were very high and the visibility of data for clinicians was very low.
