Recognizing Deteriorating Patient Condition in a Paediatric Setting
When introducing early warning tools and systems, it's important to consider design, implementation and evaluation processes that include all relevant team members, as with any improvement opportunity. Meaningful consultation and contribution is key to implementing and sustaining improvement.听听听
The following tools and resources will assist you in recognizing and responding to the deteriorating patient condition in a paediatric setting.听
Resources to share with your patients听
- SIGNS - Spot Severe Illness in Infants, Children & Adolescents, SIGNS for Kids Consortium (2022)听
- ) patient information leaflet, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2016)听
- , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (nd)听
Additional provider resources听听
- , Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (2022)听
- , Bedside Clinical Systems (2017)听
- , The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (2012)听
- , Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (nd)听
- , Institute for Healthcare Improvement (2014)听
Bedside Paediatric Early Warning Systems听
The Hospital for Sick Children has implemented a bedside pediatric early warning system across their organization and has supported many other paediatric centers in doing the same. They would be happy to help your team. Please email Kristen.middaugh@sickkids.ca for more information.听听
Additionally, if you would like to learn more about the paediatric rapid response processes, the teams at either IWK Health Care or the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Eastern Ontario would be happy to share their specialized pediatric outreach teams鈥� approach with you. Please contact Stacy Burgess (Stacy.Burgess@iwk.nshealth.ca) at IWK Health Care, or either Christa Ramsay (cramsay@cheo.on.ca) or Dr. Anna-Theresa Lobos (alobos@cheo.on.ca) at the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Eastern Ontario to learn more.
TeamSTEPPS Canada鈩�
Seventy percent of all preventable harm events experienced by patients are linked to a breakdown in communication. TeamSTEPPS Canada Essentials Course helps healthcare organizations optimize patient care by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals, including point-of-care staff. The TeamSTEPPS Canada Essentials course is built on an evidence-based framework to optimize performance across the healthcare delivery system. It consists of five key principles: team structure, communication, leading teams, situational monitoring and mutual support.
