title: An assessment tool for acutely ill medical patients.
abstract: This article reports the implementation and impact of a standardized systematic evidence-based predictive score for the initial assessment of acutely ill medical patients. The Simple Clinical Score (SCS) was introduced in the A&E department and the medical floor of the authors' hospital between June 2007 and July 2008. The SCS was well received by the staff - 67% felt it greatly improved patient assessment and was very valuable for ensuring appropriate placement of the patient after admission and improved the quality of care. This article describes the change process, the pilot evaluation and the training programme undertaken during the implementation of the SCS. It is hoped that this experience will be of value to other project teams who are undertaking similar initiatives.
authors.affiliation: Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Nenagh, County Tipperary, Ireland.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gleeson
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kellett
authors.forename: Mairead
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Casey
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000145:classification*; D000465:Algorithms; D003663:Decision Trees; D004282:Documentation; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006757:Hospital Units; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D007494:Ireland; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D009731:Nursing Audit; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010343:Patient Admission; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards