A brief list of ‘best practice’ principles would include:
- Charts that are intuitive to use rather than requiring complex instructions on how to
document vital signs and calculate the EWS
- Using colour-coding sparingly and only to indicate important factors such as a
progression through deterioration or to highlight extreme deviation from normal values
- Keeping non-essential text or reference material unrelated to vital signs away from the
vital signs recording area
- Using clear graphical areas with gridlines to show and accentuate trends rather than
relying on interpretation of multiple numerical values
- Using clear sans serif fonts of sufficient size that text is legible from an appropriate
distance
- Sufficient space to record enough vital signs that temporal trends are apparent but not so
much space that the chart appears overloaded
Taking into consideration the charts use in low-light conditions and its utility for colour-blind staff members
- Acceptable recognised terms and abbreviations used throughout
- Only vital signs considered to be important to be included on the chart
- Placing the most critical vital signs towards the top of the chart as this is where most staff
will look first (for example, it has been suggested that tachypnoea is the the most
important predictor of cardiac arrest for in-patient wards yet it is often the vital sign that is
least recorded)17
- Labelling and spacing columns to minimise error when both documenting and interpreting
vital signs