Recognising the Physically Ill Patient

What's covered on the day?

This session will allow anyone involved in the assessment and monitoring of a patient, to develop the appropriate skills for completing an A-E assessment and recognising a physically ill patient or deteriorating patient. It will allow them to also then recognise at what point should further assistance be sought, and what can be done to promote the recovery and rescue of a deteriorating patient. The training will link to national guidance, policies and protocols that are applicable to measuring information objectively. The course will also equip learners with appropriate handover tools for escalating issues.

Assessment

Learners will complete a knowledge assessment at the end of the course, along with practical tasks throughout the day allowing them to gain the confidence and competency in assessing a deteriorating patient using the A-E assessment protocol. A further 1 day can be provided where full assessment and skills based practice is included in simulation, although this does not form part of the main learning objectives.

Learning Objectives

• Define what is meant by the term Recognising a Physically Ill or deteriorating patient
• Discuss the principles of airway assessment and demonstrate how to perform an appropriate airway assessment
• Demonstrate a full breathing assessment, and how to fully record your observations.
• Identify how to assess a patient’s cardiovascular system, including alternative assessments if formal readings are not available
• Summarise the overall findings of a full A-E assessment and how to translate this into an EWS score.
• Plan an appropriate handover for a deteriorating patient to a medical professional using the SBAR tool