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.
AD - Intensive Care Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital, University of Adelaide, Australia. AN - 19913973 BT - Resuscitation ET - 2009/11/17 LA - eng M1 - 1 N1 - Flabouris, ArthasChen, JackHillman, KenBellomo, RinaldoFinfer, SimonMERIT Study Investigators from the Simpson Centre and the ANZICs Clinical Trials GroupResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tIrelandResuscitationResuscitation. 2010 Jan;81(1):25-30. Epub 2009 Nov 13. N2 -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.
PY - 2010 SN - 1873-1570 (Electronic)0300-9572 (Linking) SP - 25 EP - 30 T2 - Resuscitation TI - Timing and interventions of emergency teams during the MERIT study VL - 81 ER -