Kaitlyn Kaufman
November 17, 2016
Week 5: Written Assignment
Rapid Response Teams
Rapid Response Teams are defined as, “A group of clinicians with critical care expertise who quickly respond to the patient’s bedside in the event that the patient develops a life-threatening condition” (Hess, 2016). There are many purposes for the Rapid Response Team, not only do they respond to emergencies, they also educate fellow staff members while forming relationships with them, they are active in assessing high risk patients and they follow up on patients who have been transferred from the ICU’s to the floors. When they are called to a patient’s bedside they immediately assess and treat the patient with the goal of preventing the patient being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), cardiac arrest, or death. …show more content…
In an institution, such as a hospital, any staff member can call the Rapid Response Team if there is a noticeable change in the patient’s status. These changes can be any of the following: “Heart rate over 140 beats/min or less than 40 beats/min, a respiratory rate over 28 breaths/min or less than 8 breaths/min, systolic blood pressure greater than 180mmHg or less than 90mmHg, oxygen saturation less than 89% despite oxygen supplementation, acute changes in mental status, urine output less than 50mL over 4 hours, staff member has significant concern about the patient’s condition, chest pain unrelieved by nitroglycerin, airway patency, seizure or symptoms of stroke”. (Hess,
November 17, 2016
Week 5: Written Assignment
Rapid Response Teams
Rapid Response Teams are defined as, “A group of clinicians with critical care expertise who quickly respond to the patient’s bedside in the event that the patient develops a life-threatening condition” (Hess, 2016). There are many purposes for the Rapid Response Team, not only do they respond to emergencies, they also educate fellow staff members while forming relationships with them, they are active in assessing high risk patients and they follow up on patients who have been transferred from the ICU’s to the floors. When they are called to a patient’s bedside they immediately assess and treat the patient with the goal of preventing the patient being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), cardiac arrest, or death. …show more content…
In an institution, such as a hospital, any staff member can call the Rapid Response Team if there is a noticeable change in the patient’s status. These changes can be any of the following: “Heart rate over 140 beats/min or less than 40 beats/min, a respiratory rate over 28 breaths/min or less than 8 breaths/min, systolic blood pressure greater than 180mmHg or less than 90mmHg, oxygen saturation less than 89% despite oxygen supplementation, acute changes in mental status, urine output less than 50mL over 4 hours, staff member has significant concern about the patient’s condition, chest pain unrelieved by nitroglycerin, airway patency, seizure or symptoms of stroke”. (Hess,