The National Early Warning Score and the acutely confused patient

摘要

An acute change in a person's level of consciousness can be alarming and is often an important indicator of acute-illness severity or clinical deterioration that clinicians have long recognised requires urgent clinical assessment. Indeed, NHS advice for the public is to ‘get medical help immediately if someone suddenly becomes confused (delirious)’. 1 This recognises that the onset of acute confusion may be the first indication of a significant acute perturbation to health, particularly in older patients. Thus, acute confusion is going to become an increasingly important sign of clinical deterioration as populations age.