Newswise — MAYWOOD, IL – The Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital at Loyola University Medical Center has implemented a pediatric early warning scoring system to better identify children who are at-risk of becoming critically ill while in the hospital.
“Children can become critically ill from sudden and unexpected events, but more often it is a gradual progression arising from various illnesses, which leaves a large window of opportunity to identify children at-risk in our children’s hospital,” said Julie Fitzgerald, MD, director of Loyola University Health System’s pediatric intensive care unit and associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.
The Cardiac Children’s Hospital Early Warning Scoring (C-CHEWS) tool was developed at Boston Children’s Hospital and focuses on three key objectives: neuro/behavioral, respiratory and cardiovascular. Patient-specific concerns from the family and nursing staff also are taken into account for each child’s score. The child is evaluated using a specific nursing and physician response algorithm and each patient is given a score from 0-10. A score is given every four hours along with each set of vitals.
This also has led to the development of a redesigned rapid response team that will respond to a range of changes that include low blood pressure, rapid or low heart rates, respiratory distress and alterations in mental status. Benefits include a reduction of mortality rates, improved clinical outcomes and decreased length of stay, better awareness of physiological deterioration or instability, improved safety and satisfaction for patients, their families and the children’s hospital staff.
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###About Loyola University Health SystemLoyola University Health System (LUHS) is a member of Trinity Health. Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, LUHS is a quaternary care system with a 61-acre main medical center campus, the 36-acre Gottlieb Memorial Hospital campus and more than 30 primary and specialty care facilities in Cook, Will and DuPage counties. The medical center campus is conveniently located in Maywood, 13 miles west of the Chicago Loop and 8 miles east of Oak Brook, Ill. At the heart of the medical center campus is a 559-licensed-bed hospital that houses a Level 1 Trauma Center, a Burn Center and the Ronald McDonald® Children's Hospital of Loyola University Medical Center. Also on campus are the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola Outpatient Center, Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine and Loyola Oral Health Center as well as the LUC Stritch School of Medicine, the LUC Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and the Loyola Center for Fitness. Loyola's Gottlieb campus in Melrose Park includes the 255-licensed-bed community hospital, the Professional Office Building housing 150 private practice clinics, the Adult Day Care, the Gottlieb Center for Fitness, Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care and the Loyola Cancer Care & Research at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center at Melrose Park.
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