Commentary on: McDonnell A, Tod A, Bray K, et al. A before and after study assessing the impact of a new model for recognizing and responding to early signs of deterioration in an acute hospital. J Adv Nurs 2013;69:41–52.OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed

Implications for practice and research

• Staff education appears important prior to introduction of new track and trigger (T&T) scoring and response systems.

• Staff confidence, knowledge and use of T&T and early response systems may assist early detection of patient deterioration.

• Further research on the impact of T&T models on patient outcomes is warranted.

Context

Internationally, training in and use of T&T scoring systems along with a variety of rapid response strategies and regular observation-taking are believed to be useful foundations to assist nurses’ detection of deteriorating patients. In the UK, recommendations have been made for the introduction of these systems.1 However, there are few studies that evaluate the impact …