news_score: National Early Warning Score (NEWS)

In cliot: Clinical Indices and Outcomes Tools

National Early Warning Score (NEWS)

Description

Calculates the National Early Warning Score (NEWS) to standardize the assessment of acute illness severity. The score is based on seven physiological parameters: Respiratory Rate, Oxygen Saturation, Supplemental Oxygen use, Temperature, Systolic BP, Heart Rate, and AVPU score.

Usage

news_score(respiratory_rate, oxygen_saturation, any_supplemental_oxygen,
           temperature_c, systolic_bp, heart_rate, avpu_score)

Arguments

respiratory_rate	Numeric. Respiratory rate in breaths per minute.
oxygen_saturation	Numeric. Oxygen saturation percentage (SpO2).
any_supplemental_oxygen	Numeric (0 or 1). Is the patient receiving supplemental oxygen? (1 = Yes, +2 points).
temperature_c	Numeric. Body temperature in degrees Celsius.
systolic_bp	Numeric. Systolic blood pressure in mmHg.
heart_rate	Numeric. Heart rate in beats per minute.
avpu_score	String. Level of consciousness: "alert", "voice", "pain", "unresponsive". Any response other than "alert" scores 3 points.

Value

A list containing:

NEWS_Score	The calculated total score (Range 0-20).
Risk_Category	Classification of clinical risk (Low, Medium, High).
Response_Level	Recommended clinical response urgency.

References

Royal College of Physicians. National Early Warning Score (NEWS): Standardising the assessment of acute-illness severity in the NHS. Report of a working party. London: RCP, 2012.

Examples

# Example 1: Low Risk
# RR 18, SpO2 98, No O2, Temp 37, SBP 130, HR 70, Alert
news_score(18, 98, 0, 37.0, 130, 70, "alert")

# Example 2: High Risk
# RR 26 (+3), SpO2 90 (+3), On O2 (+2), Temp 39 (+1), SBP 100 (+1), HR 120 (+2), Verbal (+3)
# Score = 15
news_score(26, 90, 1, 39.0, 100, 120, "voice")

cliot documentation built on Dec. 1, 2025, 1:06 a.m.