NEWS: The Emergency Medicine Journal has published a study in March 2022 looking at how; 'Using National Early Warning Scores (NEWS2) can help identify those COVID-19 patients who are sickest and at risk of dying', the report stated: "In this retrospective multicentre study of over 1200 hospitalised patients with COVID-19, those with higher initial or maximum NEWS2 were more likely to die, require intensive care unit admission and have longer length of stay than patients with lower scores at either time....NEWS2 values had the best predictive value for short-term (2-day) mortality in patients with COVID-19...Individually, the respiratory components (respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and supplemental oxygen requirement) make the greatest contribution to the NEWS2 value." The study concluded that NEWS2 is acceptable to use alongside clinical judgement to assess patients with COVID-19.
Read the study in full here
Commenting on the findings, Anne Pullyblank, Consultant Surgeon at North Bristol Trust (one of the Trusts involved in the project) and Medical Director of the West of England AHSN, said: “We know that NEWS2 can predict a patient’s deterioration from any cause. It was reassuring to prove that this also applies to COVID-19 and that the NEWS2 score, already used in hospitals all over the country, can predict which patients are sickest and which are likely to get worse. The fact that the oxygen levels and respiratory rate are the most sensitive has also helped us understand how we can monitor patients with COVID-19 safely in the community.”