Development of an Action
Algorithm Based on PEWS Scores
The PEWS tool in and of itself cannot guarantee that the
appropriate action will be taken. Subsequent intervention
is necessary. In a series of in-hospital cardiac arrests, clinical
deterioration had been documented in 66% of patients.
Where there was documentation of clinical deterioration
and the patient progressed to cardiopulmonary arrest, the nurse did not inform the doctor, junior doctors did not
inform senior doctors, or intensive care doctors did not
follow usual procedures (Franklin & Mathew, 1994).