01720nas a2200205   4500000000100000008004100001100001700042700001200059700001700071700002000088700003000108700005200138700001500190245007100205250001500276300001000291490000700301520116000308020004601468       2010                            d1 aFlabouris A.1 aChen J.1 aFinfer Simon1 aBellomo Rinaldo1 aMERIT Study Investigators1 aANZICS Clinical Trial Group (Writing Committee)1 aHillman K.00aTiming and interventions of emergency teams during the MERIT study  a2009/11/17  a25-300 v813 a<p>
AIMS: To examine interventions and timing of emergency team calls in hospitals with or without a medical emergency team (MET). METHODS: Interventions were recorded, categorized and classified as critical care interventions (e.g. airway intervention, ventilation and use of inotropic drugs); ward level interventions (e.g. fluids, oxygen by mask); assessment, physical examination and investigations. RESULTS: Only 5 of the 2376 calls were free of critical care interventions. For non-cardiac arrest-related calls, MET hospitals had a lower proportion of airway, circulation and drug-related interventions and a higher proportion of ward level interventions. The majority of calls were between 0601 and 1200 h and cardiac arrest survival was greatest in the 1200-2400 h period. Overall median time at the scene was 25 min. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly all emergency team calls required critical care type interventions. Emergency team calls show a unique temporal pattern for both MET and control hospitals. These findings have important organizational and resource-related implications for hospitals evaluating and establishing rapid response systems.
</p>
  a1873-1570 (Electronic)0300-9572 (Linking)