Importance of the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) at the time of discharge from the intensive care unit

Abstract

Backround/aim: To identify, at an early stage of intensive care, patients who will require readmission to the intensive care unit (ICU) based on their National Early Warning Score (NEWS-d) at discharge. Materials and methods: Overall, 536 patients aged >18 years who stayed at a tertiary ICU for >24 h were included. Patients who readmitted and not readmitted to the intensive care within 48 h after discharge were compared. Results: Mean patient age was 64.26 +/- 18.50 years and 252 (44.7%) patients were male. Mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score was 21.86 +/- 8.74; mean NEWS-d was 4.48 +/- 2.53. Forty-nine (9.1%) were readmitted to ICU. The reasons for initial admission, age, and NEWS-d vvalues were significantly different between the 2 groups. The NEWS-d values of the readmitted group were significantly higher (9.16 +/- 1.05) than nonreadmitted group (4.01 +/- 2.13). Based on receiver operation curve analysis, sensitivity and specificity were 98% and 95%, respectively, considering a NEWS-d cut-off value of 7.5 as the limit value for estimating readmission. Conclusion : A NEWS-d value of >7.5 demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in identifying the risk of readmission for patients being discharged from ICU.