South Africa: New Vital Signs Chart Aimed At Improving Patient Care

A spotlight on the work of Emeritus Associate Professor Una Kyriacos, previously of the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Division of Nursing and Midwifery, in commemoration of International Nurses' Day. Kyriacos is behind the development, validation and testing of the effectiveness of a vital signs monitoring tool: the Cape Town-modified early warning score (MEWS) vital signs chart. The chart, designed for adults, is intended for the early identification of deterioration in hospitalised adult patients in general wards.

In the public sector, nurses monitor three vital signs of adult patients in general wards: blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and temperature. These are manually recorded on paper charts which do not indicate what the normal values for the vital signs should be - except for temperature.

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