The Rothman Index and the Pediatric Rothman Index are tools to help clinicians recognize clinical deterioration at the earliest opportunity so that preventive action can be taken.
For a quick intro to the Rothman Index, see the show notes in this link. They are excellent. The talk is an hour long and maybe not worth the time investment.
For resources on the early detection and treatment of clinical deterioration in pediatric patients please see:
(1) Clinical Guidelines (Nursing): Observation and Continuous Monitoring from The Royal Children’s Hospital of Melbourne.
(2) Clinical Practice Guidelines: Normal Ranges For Physiologic Variables from The Royal Children’s Hospital of Melbourne.
(3) Victorian Children’s Tool For Observation and Response (VICTOR) – ViCTOR charts & folders
Educational resources
Videos to support the implementation of ViCTOR charts can be found here
Videos describing how to take paediatric observations can be found here
(4) Deteriorating Patients: Escalation of Care from The Royal Children’s Hospital of Melbourne. The link is to two page resource on when to call for a rapid response team.
“Rothman: Beyond the Early Warning Score, The Rothman Index” From The Maryland Critical Care Project:
Today we at the University of Maryland are honored to host Michael Rothman, Ph.D., co-founder and chief science officer, PeraHealth. Dr. Rothman holds Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in chemistry from Brown University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Michigan. After losing his mother to an undetected complication following a low-risk surgical procedure, Dr. Rothman was determined to develop a method to predict such travesties before they occurred. He accomplished this by leveraging over 30 years of data analysis and mathematical modeling experience to create a method of tracking patient progress, allowing detection of declining health, and allowing earlier intervention. These models are referred to as the Rothman Index and the pediatric Rothman Index, both of which are revolutionizing the way we care for critically ill patients. I can be assured of very little in life, but I can promise you: this lecture will change the way you practice medicine and WILL save the lives of those around you!
