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Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge
| July / August 2008 Issue | healthcarejournalbr.com
Regardless of its name or origin, at each area hospital, the
rapid response team's job is to assist the nurse or other clini-
cian in critically assessing what is happening with a patient.
While specific triggers vary from facility to facility, common cri-
teria include:
• unexpected changes in heart-rate, blood pressure, and/or
respiration
• difficulty breathing
• poor oxygen saturation
• seizure activity
• bleeding
• altered mental status
• unresponsive pain
• the ever-popular and instinctual, “the patient just doesn't
look right.”
With one call, the floor nurse can summon a team of the hos-
pital's most experienced personnel to help evaluate what is
happening. While they may often be required to do little more
than offer reassurance, the team can also suggest and imple-
ment treatment to turn the patient around. The rapid response
team is also very useful when a nurse is having trouble con-
tacting a physician in the middle of the night, pointed out
Whitaker. Not only can they advise, but the team can also
help the nurse convey to the doctor all the information he/she
needs to make a decision or adjust treatment. Physicians are
reassured if they know the RRT has been called and is weigh-
ing in on a situation. “Our physicians like the MET so much, if
the nurse is unsure, they'll say, 'Well, call the MET team and
call me back,'” said Corey Summers, House Manager at
OLOL. In more extreme cases, they can also intervene in the
physician's absence. At OLOL for example, after ten minutes
without the primary physician's feedback, the MET can sum-
mon the intensivist to take over the patient's care if necessary.
“I think the nurse on the floor is happy to have someone to call
for reassurance,” added Tammy Dickerson, Critical Care,
Clinical Coordinator at Ochsner. “It's team nursing.”
At each hospital however, team members stressed that the
Gut instinct is one of our most
valuable assets.
-Kathy Peairs, Lane RMC
When the IOM issues a statement
like that, regulation is quick to
follow.
-Dr. Stephen Brierre, EKL