Seeing red with the NICE traffic lights

[摘要] In the UK the National Institute for Health andCare Excellence (NICE) recommends the useof a traffic light system when assessing febrilechildren aged under 5 to identify those at riskof serious illness. It has been a standard partof normal clinical care in UK general practicefor many years. It is so routine we barely thinkabout it, hardly pause to eye its merits.The NICE traffic light approach had neverbeen validated in UK general practice.The article by Amy Clark and colleaguespublished in this issue is a retrospectivediagnostic accuracy study of the NICE trafficlight system.1 They conclude that the system‘cannot accurately detect or exclude seriousillness in children presenting to UK generalpractice with an acute illness.’.

[学科分类] 卫生学