Testing effectiveness of the revised Cape Town modified early warning and SBAR systems: a pilot pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial

Table 5 Serious adverse events recorded

SAE	Intervention arm n = 150 Number (%)	Control arm n = 142 Number (%)	OR (95%CI)	P value
Any SAE	5 (3.3)	3 (2.1)	1.61 (0.38–6.86)	0.72 (Fisher’s)
Death	*4 (2.7)	1 (0.7)	3.89 (0.43–35.23)	0.37 (Fisher’s)
Prolonged hospitalization	0	2 (1.4)	Cannot be computed
ICU admission	1 (0.7)	0	Cannot be computed

*A specialist physician (UK) advised that a young patient diagnosed with chicken pox pneumonia and transferred from the intensive care unit to a medical intervention ward, and whose vital signs were monitored by the standard chart, had died 2 h later. The physician expressed his opinion that had the MEWS been used, the patient’s vital signs would probably have been better monitored, leading to interventions that might have saved his life

ISSN: 1745-6215