Patient safety and rapid response systems

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety: Rapid Response Systems: The Stories

Several studies have shown that patients frequently display physical evidence of deterioration as much as 8–12 hours before a cardiac arrest or critical event requiring some form of intensive intervention or rescue. Early recognition of these signs, followed by prompt treatment, may reduce death rates in hospitalized patients. However, deterioration is frequently difficult to assess because of ...

Promoting patient safety: the rapid medical response team.

CONTEXT Adverse events are estimated to affect up to 17% of hospitalized patients and to cause up to 98,000 patient deaths per year in the United States. Unexpected codes in hospitalized patients are one of the most significant adverse events, carrying a risk of death that is reported to range from 50% to 80%. OBJECTIVE The Rapid Medical Response Team (RMRT) was an initiative designed to redu...

Where is Patient Safety Research and Practice Heading? A Response to Recent Commentaries

Resuscitation and rapid response systems.

Just over 50 years ago, Peter Safar and colleagues began work n preventing mortality from cardiac arrest using a combinaion of rescue breathing and chest compressions, now known s cardiorespiratory resuscitation (CPR).1 Since then, a range of mprovements and additional interventions, e.g., different comression:ventilation ratios, automated defibrillators, intravenous rugs and therapeutic hypoth...

Patient Surveillance and Rapid Response Teams

Over the past two decades, the healthcare system has placed considerable attention on the concept of “failure to rescue” and the reduction of preventable harm in the hospital. Failure to rescue typically refers to the inability to recognize the early signs and symptoms of patient deterioration, or simply acting too late to prevent an in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest. The concept of failure PA...