Abstract
As a global effort toward improving patient safety, a specific area of focus has been
the early recognition and rapid intervention in deteriorating ward patients. This
focus on “failure to rescue” has led to the construction of early warning/track-and-trigger
systems. In this review article, we present a description of the data behind the creation
and implementation of such systems, including multiple algorithms and strategies for
deployment. Additionally, the strengths and weaknesses of the various systems and
their evaluation in the literature are emphasized. Despite the limitations of the
current literature, the potential benefit of these early warning/track-and-trigger
systems to improve patient outcomes remains significant.
Keywords
early warning/track-and-trigger systems - patient safety - patient deterioration -
early detection - early response
