Using the national Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) for England: part 1

The System-wide Paediatric Observation Tracking (SPOT) programme in England aims to improve the recognition of, and response to, deterioration in the health status of children and young people in any healthcare environment. The first phase of the programme involved the development of a standardised inpatient chart and track and trigger system, or Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS), for England. This is the first of two articles that aim to develop nurses’ knowledge and understanding of the SPOT programme and the PEWS to assist them in providing safe and effective care to children and young people. This first article describes the assessment, documentation and scoring of a child’s vital signs and observations to calculate a PEWS score, which indicates the required escalation level and corresponding actions to take. The article also outlines the assessment and documentation of other important physiological parameters that do not contribute to the PEWS score but inform the escalation level and actions to take.