Background: Early warning scores are clinical decision support tools that incorporate multiple physiologic variables to detect patient deterioration. Previous studies have highlighted the value of integrating measures of provider intuition into predictive models. (1-3) For example, incorporating the Patient Acuity Rating, a Likert-based measure of nurse worry, into the six-variable Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) [...]

Background: An important duty of every hospitalist is to detect the earliest signs of imminent clinical deterioration. Breathing motion patterns can convey early warnings of respiratory instability (1). Normal breathing appears regular, effortless, well-coordinated and comfortable (2). In patients at high risk of respiratory deterioration, breathing appears labored (3). Well-established signs of labored breathing include: [...]