Missed opportunities in use of medical emergency teams prior to in-hospital cardiac arrest.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hospitals often employ Medical Emergency Teams (METs) to respond to patients with acute physiological decline so as to prevent deaths from in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). We determined the frequency of missed opportunities for MET evaluation, defined as no MET evaluation prior to IHCA despite evidence of severe vital sign abnormalities ≥1 hour preceding cardiac arrest.

Methods

Within Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation, we identified 21,913 patients from 274 hospitals with IHCA on general inpatient or telemetry floors who would be eligible for a MET evaluation prior to IHCA. We determined the proportion of patients with missed opportunities for MET evaluation, defined as no MET evaluation before IHCA despite at least 1 severe vital sign abnormality (pulse >15

SUBMITTER: Chan ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4908832 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature