AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Medical Response Team Saves Lives by Empowering Nurses to Recognize and Act on Early Warning Signs of Trouble

Medical Response Team Saves Lives by Empowering Nurses to Recognize and Act on Early Warning Signs of Trouble

Snapshot
Summary
The medical response team at Baptist Memorial Hospital responds to nurse and family reports of early warning signs that patients are in cardiac or respiratory distress and moves quickly to rescue them before they develop medical emergencies. The medical response team has reduced the number of cardiac arrests by 26 percent and has saved lives by increasing nurses’ ability to recognize the early warning signs of patient distress, while empowering them to communicate with physicians and begin interventions earlier.

See the Description section for new information about proactive patient monitoring by the medical response team (updated April 2010).

Evidence Rating
Moderate: The evidence consists primarily of pre- and post-implementation comparisons of key quality measures, including overall mortality rates, number of cardiac arrests, and cardiac arrest and code survival rates.

Developing Organizations
Baptist-Memorial Hospital, Memphis, TN


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AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Medical Response Team Saves Lives by Empowering Nurses to Recognize and Act on Early Warning Signs of Trouble