New Study Questions Impact of Rapid Response Teams

A study published today in the

Journal of the American Medical Association calls into question whether rapid response teams have an impact on hospital-wide code or mortality rates.

 

Rapid response teams are multidisciplinary teams of experts in intensive care that evaluate, triage, and treat patients outside of intensive care units who are showing signs of deteriorating.  The purpose is to reduce in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrests (codes) and the subsequent morbidity and mortality.

At St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, researchers conducted a prospective cohort study of adults admitted between January 1, 2004 and August 31, 2007.  The rapid response team education and program was launched in the last quarter of 2005.  Examining more than 24,000 admissions both before and after the intervention and 376 rapid response team activations, there was no association between the use of rapid response teams and reductions in hospital-wide code rates or mortality.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and others have been touting rapid response teams as an important means to reducing hospital mortality.  The study raises questions about whether hospitals should invest financial and other resources if rapid response teams do not reduce mortality.