The Newborn Early Warning System

Maternity wards record daily observations such as temperature, color, urine, faeces and weight of the newborn in the baby file. There is no structure and no uniformity in recording and interpreting them and in time to notify the doctor. Adults who become ill, have clearly observable and interpretable signs such as fever, changed heart rate, and increasing pain symptoms. Verbal communication also contributes to timely risk assessment. In newborns, this is absent and vital parameters often remain good for some time despite deterioration in health status. Changes in behavior, micturition and weight can be a sign of infection or cardiopathy. Scientific studies show that in adults and children, signs of deterioration in health status are often not recognized and not acted immediately. (Paliwoda et al., 2016) Early Warning Score Systems are used in several hospital settings with good results. ( Jensen et al., 2017; Alam et al., 2014) However, there is no universal scale that can be used for the entire hospital population. In newborns up to 120 hours postpartum, vital parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, and saturation are currently not part of daily monitoring unlike in other hospital populations. Physical parameters such as color, micturation, weight and behavior can be a sign of decompensation and are not included in already existing measurement tools. The healthcare industry has been very standardizing in recent years, which increases the need for a scientifically based tools tailored to the newborn.