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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA new study has found that parent intuition is more likely to predict critical illness than various vital signs used to measure health.<\/p>\n
Experts from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, analysed data on almost 190,000 emergency hospital visits for children in Melbourne where parents or caregivers were routinely asked: \u201cAre you worried your child is getting worse?\u201d<\/p>\n
In some 4.7 per cent of cases, parents said they were concerned their child was deteriorating.<\/p>\n
The research team found that caregiver concern was \u201csignificantly\u201d linked to the child being admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) \u2013 when parents raised concerns, children were four times more likely to need ICU care, compared with children of parents who were not.<\/p>\n
Researchers also found that prenatal concern was associated with a higher likelihood that the child would need to be given help to breathe, or mechanical ventilation.<\/p>\n
And they found that parental concern was more strongly associated with ICU admission than abnormal vital signs were, including abnormal heart rate, abnormal breathing or blood pressure.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>A study found that parental concern was more strongly associated with ICU admission than abnormal vital signs were (PA)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cCaregiver concern was more strongly associated with ICU admission than any abnormal vital sign,\u201d they wrote in the journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health.<\/p>\n
There were 1,900 cases where parental concern was documented along with the timing of abnormal vital signs.<\/p>\n
The research team noted that in almost one in five cases (19.3 per cent) parents raised concerns about deterioration before vital signs indicated that the child was deteriorating.<\/p>\n
This could mean that taking parents\u2019 views into account could lead to earlier treatment, they added.<\/p>\n
Overall, they found that children of caregivers who voiced concerns were \u201cmore unwell, they were more likely to be admitted to an inpatient ward, and stayed in hospital almost three times as long.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes after Martha Mills died in 2021, aged 13, after developing sepsis following a pancreatic injury, after her parents repeatedly raised concerns about her deterioration while in hospital.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Merope Mills, and her husband, Paul Laity, sounded the alarm about their daughter\u2019s health a number of times, but their concerns were brushed aside.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Martha Mills died in 2021, aged 13 (Family Handout)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nA coroner ruled she would most likely have survived if doctors had identified the warning signs of her rapidly deteriorating condition and transferred her to intensive care earlier.<\/p>\n
One of the lead authors of the paper, Dr Erin Mills, from Monash University\u2019s School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, said \u201dstories of parents not being heard, followed by devastating outcomes, are all too common. We wanted to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to test whether parent input could help us identify deterioration earlier \u2013 and it can. If a parent said they were worried, their child was around four times more likely to require intensive care. That\u2019s a signal we can\u2019t afford to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cParents are not visitors \u2013 they are part of the care team. We want every hospital to recognise that and give parents permission, and power, to speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result of Martha\u2019s death, Martha\u2019s Rule is being piloted in NHS hospitals, which gives patients and their loved ones the right to a second medical opinion.<\/p>\n
In March, the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee was told that thousands of patients or their loved ones have sought a second opinion about their NHS care under the initiative.<\/p>\n
And more than 100 patients have been taken to intensive care, or equivalent, as a result.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more A new study has found that parent intuition is more likely to predict critical illness than various vital signs used to measure health. Experts from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, analysed data on almost 190,000 emergency hospital visits for children in Melbourne where parents or caregivers were routinely asked: \u201cAre you worried your child is getting worse?\u201d In some 4.7 per cent of cases, parents said they were concerned their child was deteriorating. The research team found that caregiver concern was \u201csignificantly\u201d linked to the child being admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) \u2013 when parents raised concerns, children were four times more likely to need ICU care, compared with children of parents who were not. Researchers also found that prenatal concern was associated with a higher likelihood that the child would need to be given help to breathe, or mechanical ventilation. And they found that parental concern was more strongly associated with ICU admission than abnormal vital signs were, including a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}