Effectiveness of the Medical Emergency Team the importance of dose.docVIP

Available online /content/13/5/313 Viewpoint Effectiveness of the Medical Emergency Team: the importance of dose Daryl Jones1, Rinaldo Bellomo1 and Michael A DeVita2 1Department of Intensive Care, Austin Hospital, Studley Road, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia 2West Penn Allegheny Health System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Corresponding author: Daryl Jones, Daryl.jones@.au Published: 6 October 2009 Critical Care 2009, 13:313 (doi:10.1186/cc7996) This article is online at /content/13/5/313 ? 2009 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Amounts of delivered therapy are also likely to be important determinants of outcome for systems of care. Thus, nurse staffing levels have been shown to impact on rates of complications in hospitalized patients [1,2], and outcomes of cancer surgery are better in high volume institutions [3]. Up to 17% of hospital admissions are complicated by serious adverse events unrelated to the patients presenting medical condition. Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) review patients during early phase of deterioration to reduce patient morbidity and mortality. However, reports of the efficacy of these teams are varied. The aims of this article were to explore the concept of RRT dose, to assess whether RRT dose improves patient outcomes, and to assess whether there is evidence that inclusion of a physician in the team impacts on the effectiveness of the team. A review of available literature suggested that the method of reporting RRT utilization rate, (RRT dose) is calls per 1,000 admissions. Hospitals with mature In this article, we briefly review the background to the role of the Rapid Response Team (RRT) in preventing serious adverse events (SAEs) in hospitalized patients. We also introduce the concept of ‘RRT dose’, the number of RRT activations per 1,000 admissions or discharges. In addition, we highlight possible differences