Early warning scoring systems versus standard observations charts for wards in South Africa: a cluster randomized controlled trial

Table 5 Numbers of patients with postoperative parameter recordings by trial arm (intention-to-treat analysis)

Parameter	Intervention arm N = 57 patients	Control arm N = 57 patients	Pvalue	OR	95% CI
	Number (%)	Number (%)	Pvalue	OR	95% CI
Respiratory rate recorded	27 (47.4)	2 (3.5)	<0.001	24.75	5.50-111.33
Heart rate recorded	57 (100)	57 (100)
Oxygen saturation recorded	7 (12.3)	2 (3.5)	0.08	3.85	0.76-19.41
Systolic blood pressure recorded	57 (100)	57 (100)	1.00
Temperature recorded	55 (96.5)	54 (94.7)	1.00	1.53	0.25-9.51
Level of consciousness^a recorded	45 (78.9)	37 (64.9)	0.09	2.03	0.88-4.68
Urine output recorded	49 (86.0)	51 (89.5)	0.57	0.72	0.23-2.23
All vital signs recorded	5 (8.4)	0^b (0.0)	0.06	RE^b 1.10	1.01-1.2
Incomplete recording of all vital signs	52 (91.2)	57 (100)	0.06	RE^b 1.10	1.01-1.2
MEWS trigger should have been reported and was reported, primary outcome	7 (12.3)	2 (3.5)	0.08	0.26	0.05-1.31
MEWS trigger should have been reported and was not reported	50 (87.7)	55 (96.5)

Note on table:
^aLOC was recorded on the MEWS chart as alert (A), responds to voice (V), responds to pain (P), or unresponsive (U). On the existing chart LOC was recorded in patient progress notes as the state of wakefulness (for example ‘drowsy’) on return to ward and not Glasgow Coma Scale assessment, and this applied to 21 out of 57 (36.8%) patients in the intervention wards who did not have the MEWS chart. LOC recordings on the existing charts should be interpreted with caution.
^bIf Haldane’s estimator is used to calculate OR this circumvents zero values in cells by adding one half to each cell and gives OR = 12.05 (95% CI: 0.65 to 223.19, P = 0.022). CI, confidence interval; LOC, level of consciousness; MEWS, modified early warning score; OR, odds ratio; RE, risk estimate.

ISSN: 1745-6215