Nurses’ Adherence to Vital Signs Monitoring and Its Association with Early Warning Score Accuracy

Abstract

Background: Accurate vital signs monitoring is essential for patient safety, as it informs the Early Warning Score (EWS), which predicts patient deterioration. Nurses’ adherence to monitoring guidelines may influence the accuracy of EWS. Aim: To examine nurses’ adherence to vital signs monitoring and its association with early warning score accuracy. Methods: A study, a descriptive and correlational one, was done, involving a hundred registered nurses in the medical and surgical sections of some hospitals which were chosen. The nurses filled in the V-Scale form to show how much nurses followed the guidelines in five areas: how much work nurses had, what they knew, how nurses talked with others, the tech they used, and what the important signs were. How right the EWS was, was checked by going back over the scores in the hospitals’ computer systems and seeing how nurses matched the scores nurses had written down. Results: The majority of nurses had a fair amount of compliance in every area checked – the average results being from 2.94 to 3.14. Nurses were most compliant when it came to communication, at 3.14, and important measures, at 3.08, but least compliant in the areas of technology, 2.94, and understanding, 2.96. Just 31% of nurses put down a correct EWS. Compliance with workload was clearly linked to a correct EWS (χ² = 7.468, p = 0.024; r = -0.269, p = 0.007), however understanding, communication, technology, and important measures had no notable connection to how right the EWS was. Conclusion: The accuracy of the early warning system depends on how nurses manage their workloads. Recommendations: The study recommends reducing workloads and providing support to nurses, which in turn will contribute to optimizing patient vital signs monitoring and thus enhancing patient safety.