Over time, a rapid response system for patients in shock continued to reduce time to treatment, resulting in a continued decrease in mortality. By year 5, only three patients needed to be treated to save one additional life.

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The institution of a rapid response system for the detection and treatment of septic shock requires a multidisciplinary approach. The infrastructure to create such a system must be facilitated by administrators and implemented by front-line healthcare providers. Continuous assessment of the outcome benefit of such a system by a quality assurance team is the final part of a truly integrated approach to sepsis treatment.

Early Warning Scores (EWS) are a composite evaluation of a patient's basic physiology, changes of which are the first indicators of clinical decline and are used to prompt further patient assessment and when indicated intervention. These are sometimes referred to as “track and triggers systems” with tracking meant to denote periodic observation of physiology and trigger being a predetermined response criteria. This review article examines the most widely used EWS, with special attention paid to those used in military and trauma populations. The earliest EWS is the Modified Early Earning Score (MEWS). In MEWS, points are allocated to vital signs based on their degree of abnormality, and summed to yield an aggregate score. A score above a threshold would elicit a clinical response such as a rapid response team. Modified Early Earning Score was subsequently followed up with the United Kingdom's National Early Warning Score, the electronic cardiac arrest triage score, and the 10 Signs of Vitality score, among others. Severity of illness indicators have been in military and civilian trauma populations, such as the Revised Trauma Score, Injury Severity Score, and Trauma and Injury Severity. The sequential organ failure assessment score and its attenuated version quick sequential organ failure assessment were developed to aggressively identify patients near septic shock. Effective EWS have certain characteristics. First, they should accurately capture vital signs information. Second, almost all data should be derived electronically rather than manually. Third, the measurements should take into consideration multiple organ systems. Finally, information that goes into an EWS must be captured in a timely manner. Future trends include the use of machine learning to detect subtle changes in physiology and the inclusion of data from biomarkers. As EWS improve, they will be more broadly used in both military and civilian environments. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Review article, level I.

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Determining the correct diagnosis of patients with dyspnea can be challenging. Early and accurate determination of the cause of dyspnea is vital in instituting timely and appropriate interventions. Hemodynamic parameters may aid in the evaluation of dyspnea, but are difficult to assess by physical exam. Impedance cardiography (ICG) is a newly validated method of determining hemodynamic parameters noninvasively. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy in differentiating cardiac from noncardiac causes of dyspnea utilizing ICG-derived hemodynamic parameters compared with that of emergency department (ED) physicians after initial history, physical, and laboratory tests. The final diagnosis, which was made retrospectively after review of the patient's hospital record by a senior ED physician blinded to the ICG data, was compared with the treating ED physician's and the ICG diagnoses. Thirty-eight patients who presented with dyspnea to a community ED were included in the study. There were significant differences in values of cardiac index by ICG (2.2 vs. 3.1; p<0.0001), systolic time ratio (0.52 vs. 0.37; p<0.01) and velocity index (32.9 vs. 42.7; p<0.01) between the cardiac and noncardiac groups, respectively. ICG measurements demonstrated greater sensitivity (92 vs. 83%), specificity (88 vs. 77%), and positive and negative predictive values (79 vs. 63% and 96 vs. 91%, respectively) compared with the ED physician in distinguishing cardiac from noncardiac cause of dyspnea. ICG can aid ED physicians in making more rapid and accurate determinations of cardiac vs. noncardiac cause of dyspnea.

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