Experienced Critical Care Nurse-led Rapid Response Teams Rescue Patients on In-patient Units

Abstract

The rapid response team, called the medical emergency team (MET) at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH), is one of the latest strategies being used by hospitals across the nation to provide early intervention and prevent patient deaths. The MET helps nurses intervene early in a patient's course to avert complications, failure to rescue, and unexpected deaths. Different from the “code team” but sometimes involving many of the same intensive care unit (ICU) nurses, a MET response is initiated most often by nurse-to-nurse consultation. To initiate the MET, an inpatient unit nurse or other hospital colleague concerned about a patient calls the ICU. Whichever critical care nurse is on call for the MET responds with equipment, such as a portable monitor-defibrillator. Experienced clinicians care expertise to the bedside at the first sign that the patient maybe in trouble. Depending on the case, the MET nurse may then call other resources that she or he feels is indicated, such as a respiratory therapist. The MET may be called by a staff nurse, nursing supervisor, a physician, respiratory therapist, or another provider, essentially anyone within the hospital system. Most often, MET responses are nurses consulting nurses.