When a hospital patient takes a life threatening turn for the worse and goes into cardiac arrest (heart attack) a team of healthcare professionals inside the hospital immediately swoops in to provide that patient life-saving care.
At Tyrone Hospital, a team can now be called in to help, not just for life threatening emergencies but as soon as hospital staff sees any warning signs that a patient could be headed for trouble. This team, called a Rapid Response Team (RRT), can be called on for assistance as needed twenty–four hours a day, seven days a week.
Al Godissart, Director of Outpatient Services at Tyrone Hospital said the concept of RRT is to intervene before a patient is in a full blown crisis. “Research has shown that there are often changes in patients that occur minutes or hours before they actually go into cardiac arrest. By implementing the rapid response team, we are adopting a more aggressive life saving approach.”
Exactly how does the Rapid Response Team work? If nurses or other clinical staff notice changes in a patient, they are empowered to call in the RRT. The RRT role is to help the staffers already caring for the patient by bringing critical care expertise to the scene.
At Tyrone Hospital the RRT includes staff from the intensive care unit (ICU) and the emergency room (ER) who work with bedside nurses and the attending physician.
Linda Wertz, RN, Director of Inpatient Services, said staff in the ICU and ER are experienced in caring for patients in crisis. The RRT approach allows nurses in other areas of the hospital to access their expertise when needed. Wertz said the bedside nurses and other clinical staff are key players in the RRT.
“Bedside nurses are highly sensitive to signs that a patient’s condition is deteriorating, it may be changes in vital signs such as pulse, blood pressure, breathing, urine output and coherence or a general gut feeling that something is not right with a patient. We are encouraging them to trust their instincts and not hesitate to call the RRT to assist them.”
The RRT may suggest laboratory tests, x-rays, medications, or even moving the patient to the intensive care unit.
“Tyrone Hospital operates on a continuous improvement philosophy,” said Godissart. “Healthcare is always changing. At Tyrone Hospital, we are always looking at how to use new tools and information to enhance quality of care. The implementation of RRT is an example of our continuous improvement efforts.”
Tyrone Hospital launches its Rapid Response teams March 1.
The use of Rapid Response Teams is a recommendation in the 5 Million Lives Campaign, a nationwide initiative launched by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in American healthcare. Hospitals that participate in the campaign work to implement the proven best patient care practices to help extend or save patient lives.
Tyrone is a participating hospital in the IHI 5 Million Lives Campaign. Tyrone also participates in other local, regional and national improvement efforts. All hospitals who participate in the IHI initiative as well as other improvement efforts collect and report data that quantifies how strategies that have been implemented helps improve care and save patient lives.
Hospitals large and small across the United States are deploying rapid-response teams. According to the IHI, rapid response teams had a role in preventing 122,300 deaths in the United States from January 2005 to June 2006.
IHI’s 5 Million Lives Campaign is endorsed by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Nurses Association (ANA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
