• To recognise the vital role of the nurse in identifying early signs of patient deterioration
• To understand how using the NEWS2 tool can assist in predicting patient deterioration
• To enhance your knowledge of how to undertake an ABCDE assessment
Nurses may encounter deteriorating patients in their clinical practice, so they require an understanding of the early physiological signs of deterioration and a structured approach to patient assessment. This enables appropriate management and a timely response to the most life-threatening issues identified, such as a compromised airway. This article describes how nurses can use early warning scores and a structured patient assessment, using the ABCDE (airway, breathing, circulation, disability, exposure) framework, to identify early signs of deterioration and facilitate the timely escalation of patient care where necessary.
Nursing Standard. 39, 4, 40-45. doi: 10.7748/ns.2024.e12188
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Woolfe Loftus N, Navales V, Bowden T (2024) Using the NEWS2 and ABCDE assessment to identify early signs of clinical deterioration. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2024.e12188
Published online: 25 March 2024
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