About Ireland's Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS)

Making hospitals safer for children

The Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) is a workstream of the National Clinical Programme for Paediatrics and Neonatology.

It provides a framework for care and empowers clinicians to act on behalf of a child with signs of deterioration or about whom they have clinical concerns.

It is designed to make hospital admissions safer for children and help staff care for deteriorating paediatric patients.

A National Clinical Guideline on the Irish Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) was published by the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee and Department of Health in November 2015 and updated in November 2016.

Resources for Training and Support

The following resources are available to support PEWS implementation and training.

These resources replace all earlier editions and are correct from June 2017.

Implementation Toolkit

This toolkit contains the resources required by PEWS Governance Committees and senior management teams considering the implementation of PEWS.

The PEWS National Clinical Guideline provides the framework for implementation and should be referred to for guidance.

• PEWS Implementation Guidance

• Sample National Age-specific Paediatric Observation Charts

• Sample National Chart no variances permitted

• PEWS Charts N3.2 User information

• N3 Parameters Poster

• PEWS User Manual, 2nd edition, May 2017

• ISBAR Prompt Poster Quick Reference Guide- generic edition

• Paediatric Sepsis 6 Poster

• Quick Reference Guide – generic edition

• Quick Reference Guide – permitted variances edition

• PEWS Top Tips poster

Training Toolkit

This toolkit contains the resources required by PEWS Leads, Trainers and Champions to facilitate training for implementation and ongoing retraining/updates.

You must refer to the PEWS National Clinical Guideline and the specific guidance for implementation / training when accessing and using these resources.

• PEWS Training Guidance

• PEWS Training slides

• PEWS Update slides

• PEWS Training video – generic edition

• PEWS Training Video – permitted variances edition

• PEWS Case Study 1

• PEWS Case Study 2

• PEWS Case Study 3

• PEWS Case Study 4

• PEWS Case Study Template

• PEWS quiz generic edition (coming soon)

• PEWS answer sheet generic edition*

• PEWS quiz permitted variances edition*

• PEWS answer sheet* permitted variances edition*

• PEWS Training attendance sheet

• PEWS Training evaluation sheet

• PEWS Training certificate template*

*Please contact siobhanhorkan@rcpi.ie for these resources

Audit Toolkit

The resources in this toolkit are to aid PEWS Governance bodies, leads, trainers and champions to undertake audit of process and outcome measures, as required by the PEWS National Clinical Guideline 

These resources are also required for complying with HSE BIU KPI suite requirements.

• PEWS audit overview information

• PEWS outcomes information

• PEWS outcomes minimum dataset (Excel)

• PEWS Audit desktop log

• PEWS Audit (excel datasheet)

Parent/Carer Engagement Toolkit

We recognise that parents and carers know their children best and can be acutely aware that their child is unwell or 'just not right', sometimes before the physiological parameters become abnormal. 

The concerns of parents, families and caregivers are a core scoring parameter in PEWS. An assessment of parent/carer concern is undertaken at every observation opportunity. Concern on the part of a parent/carer should merit appropriate consideration and may require escalation.

The resources in this toolkit will assist the bedside clinician in supporting parents to participate in the concern assessment and to aid parents in expressing their concern about their child.

These resources were adapted with kind permission from Birmingham Children’s Hospital Listening to You communication bundle. We are grateful for their support of this project.

• Parent resources implementation plan

• Clinician tips poster (A3 minimum)

• Listening to you poster (A3 minimum)

• Listening to you leaflet (A5)

• Parent resources implementation survey

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