Rapid response systems and Medical Emergency Teams aim to identify and manage seriously ill patients early on general wards to prevent cardiac arrests, deaths, and unanticipated ICU admissions.
Do rapid response systems prevent serious complications and ICU admissions in hospitalized patients?
Rapid response systems and Medical Emergency Teams allow early identification and management of clinical deterioration on general wards, potentially preventing ICU admissions.
Intensive care medicine was for many years practiced within the four walls of an intensive care unit (ICU). Evidence then emerged that many serious adverse events in hospitals were preceded by many hours of slow deterioration, resulting in multi-organ failure and potentially preventable admissions to the ICU. Ironically, these admissions may have been prevented if the skills within the ICU had been available to the patient on the general ward at an earlier stage. The concept of a Medical Emergency Team (MET) was developed to enable staff from the ICU to rapidly identify and respond to serious illness at an earlier stage and, hopefully, prevent serious complications. Since then, other forms of rapid response and outreach systems have been developed. Increasingly, physicians working in ICUs can see the benefit of the early management of serious illness in order to improve patient outcome.
Ken Hillman (Tue,) conducted a review in Clinical deterioration in hospitalized patients. Rapid response systems / Medical Emergency Teams (MET) vs. Standard ward care was evaluated. Rapid response systems and Medical Emergency Teams aim to identify and manage seriously ill patients early on general wards to prevent cardiac arrests, deaths, and unanticipated ICU admissions.