**2.3 Early warning systems (EWS): modified EWS (MEWS) and national early warning score (NEWS)**

Compared with mortality risk scores, early warning systems (EWS) monitor a patient's vital signs at shorter intervals and screen for early indications of clinical decline. The first EWS described was the modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) in 1997 and it was the first to gain wide acceptance in the United States. MEWS was later modified and then adopted as the United Kingdom's National Early Warning Score (NEWS). There are over 100 EWS but we will only discuss two here [8]. **Figure 2** compares several well-known scoring systems.

**Figure 2.** *Early warning score performance for sepsis discrimination.*
