NEWS2: supporting and enhancing clinical judgement?

My patient of two decades phoned me one Friday afternoon, saying she felt very ill. She travelled for an hour to my clinic. She has immunosuppression, multimorbidity including steroid-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus, and morbid obesity. Careful physical examination was entirely normal, including pulse, blood pressure, SpO2, temperature, and mental state. Prior to NEWS2 I didn’t routinely measure all six physiological parameters.¹ Her respiratory rate was 28, NEWS2 score of 3. Doubting myself, I checked and rechecked her respiratory rate. This was the sole basis of my referring her to ED. Later that day, the CT thorax, abdomen, and pelvis revealed a large intra-abdominal abscess. She made a full recovery.

• © British Journal of General Practice 2020