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Identifying the onset of patient deterioration is challenging despite the potential to respond to patients earlier with better vital sign monitoring and rapid response team (RRT) activation. In this study an ECG based software as a medical device, the Analytic for Hemodynamic Instability Predictive Index (AHI-PI), was compared to the vital signs of heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate, evaluating how early it indicated risk before an RRT activation. A higher proportion of the events had risk indication by AHI-PI (92.71%) than by vital signs (41.67%). AHI-PI indicated risk early, with an average of over a day before RRT events. In events whose risks were indicated by both AHI-PI and vital signs, AHI-PI demonstrated earlier recognition of deterioration compared to vital signs. A case-control study showed that situations requiring RRTs were more likely to have AHI-PI risk indication than those that did not. The study derived several insights in support of AHI-PI's efficacy as a clinical decision support system. The findings demonstrated AHI-PI's potential to serve as a reliable predictor of future RRT events. It could potentially help clinicians recognize early clinical deterioration and respond to those unnoticed by vital signs, thereby helping clinicians improve clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: Bryce Benson and Ashwin Belle are currently employed by Fifth Eye Inc. Sooin Lee was previously employed by Fifth Eye Inc. Bryce Benson, Ashwin Belle, and Kevin Ward have patents and equity interest in Fifth Eye Inc. The remaining authors declare no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Emergency and critical care medicine are fraught with ethically challenging decision making for clinicians, patients, and families. Time and resource constraints, decisional-impaired patients, and emotionally overwhelmed family members make obtaining informed consent, discussing withholding or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatments, and respecting patient values and preferences difficult. When illness or trauma is secondary to disaster, ethical considerations increase and change based on number of casualties, type of disaster, and anticipated life cycle of the crisis. This article considers the ethical issues that arise when health providers are confronted with the challenges of caring for victims of disaster., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Clinically significant deterioration of patients admitted to general wards is a recognized complication of hospital care. Rapid Response Systems (RRS) aim to reduce the number of avoidable adverse events. The authors aimed to develop a core quality metric for the evaluation of RRS., Methods: We conducted an international consensus process. Participants included patients, carers, clinicians, research scientists, and members of the International Society for Rapid Response Systems with representatives from Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia and the US. Scoping reviews of the literature identified potential metrics. We used a modified Delphi methodology to arrive at a list of candidate indicators that were reviewed for feasibility and applicability across a broad range of healthcare systems including low and middle-income countries. The writing group refined recommendations and further characterized measurement tools., Results: Consensus emerged that core outcomes for reporting for quality improvement should include ten metrics related to structure, process and outcome for RRS with outcomes following the domains of the quadruple aim. The conference recommended that hospitals should collect data on cardiac arrests and their potential predictability, timeliness of escalation, critical care interventions and presence of written treatment goals for patients remaining on general wards. Unit level reporting should include the presence of patient activated rapid response and metrics of organizational culture. We suggest two exploratory cost metrics to underpin urgently needed research in this area., Conclusion: A consensus process was used to develop ten metrics for better understanding the course and care of deteriorating ward patients. Others are proposed for further development., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Electronic medical records can be used to mine clinical data (big data), providing automated analysis during patient care. This article describes the source and potential impact of big data analysis on risk stratification and early detection of deterioration. It compares use of big data analysis with existing methods of identifying at-risk patients who require rapid response. Aggregate weighted scoring systems combined with big data analysis offer an opportunity to detect clinical changes that precede rapid response team activation. Future studies must determine if this will decrease transfers to intensive care units and cardiac arrests on the floors., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Two potentially lifesaving protocols, emergency preservation and resuscitation (EPR) and uncontrolled donation after circulatory determination of death (uDCDD), currently implemented in some U.S. emergency departments (EDs), have similar eligibility criteria and initial technical procedures, but critically different goals. Both follow unsuccessful cardiopulmonary resuscitation and induce hypothermia to "buy time": one in trauma patients suffering cardiac arrest, to enable surgical repair, and the other in patients who unexpectedly die in the ED, to enable organ donation. This article argues that to fulfill patient-focused fiduciary obligations and maintain community trust, institutions implementing both protocols should adopt and publicize policies to guide ED physicians to utilize either protocol for particular patients, in order to address the appearance of conflict of interest arising from the protocols' similarities. It concludes by analyzing ethical implications of incentives that may influence institutions to develop the expertise required for uDCDD but not EPR.

Background: In the United States, organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) determination is increasing among those who are removed from life-sustaining therapy but is rare when death is unexpected. We created a program for uncontrolled DCD (uDCD)., Methods: A comprehensive program was created to train personnel to identify and respond quickly to potential donors after unexpected death. The process termed Condition T was implemented in the emergency department (ED) of 2 academic medical centers. All ED deaths were screened for uDCD potential. Eligible donors included patients with preexisting donor designation who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, failed to respond, and were pronounced dead., Results: Over 350 nurses, physicians, perfusionists, organ procurement personnel, and administrators were trained. From February 2009 to June 2010, a total of 18 patients were potential Condition T candidates. Six Condition T responses were triggered. Three donors underwent cannulation, and 4 organs were recovered (3 kidney and 1 liver) from 2 donors. Time from Condition T trigger to perfusion with organ preservation solution ranged from 14 to 22.3 minutes. Perfusion duration was 197 and 221 minutes. No recovered organs were transplanted because biopsies showed prolonged warm ischemia., Conclusions: It is feasible to create a process to rapidly intervene in the ED for uDCD. However, no organ transplants resulted. The utility and sustainability of an uDCD program in this particular setting are questionable., (© 2016, NATCO.)

In-hospital cardiac arrests (IHCA) occur infrequently and individual staff members working on general wards may only rarely encounter one. Mortality following IHCA is high and the evidence for the benefits of many advanced life support (ALS) interventions is scarce. Nevertheless, regular, often frequent, ALS training is mandatory for many hospital medical staff and nurses. The incidence of pre-cardiac arrest deterioration is much higher than that of cardiac arrests, and there is evidence that intervention prior to cardiac arrest can reduce the incidence of IHCA. This article discusses a proposal to reduce the emphasis on widespread ALS training and to increase education in the recognition and response to pre-arrest clinical deterioration., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This document was developed through the collaborative efforts of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, the American College of Chest Physicians, and the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations. Under the auspices of these societies, a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional task force was convened, incorporating expertise in critical care medicine, organ donor management, and transplantation. Members of the task force were divided into 13 subcommittees, each focused on one of the following general or organ-specific areas: death determination using neurologic criteria, donation after circulatory death determination, authorization process, general contraindications to donation, hemodynamic management, endocrine dysfunction and hormone replacement therapy, pediatric donor management, cardiac donation, lung donation, liver donation, kidney donation, small bowel donation, and pancreas donation. Subcommittees were charged with generating a series of management-related questions related to their topic. For each question, subcommittees provided a summary of relevant literature and specific recommendations. The specific recommendations were approved by all members of the task force and then assembled into a complete document. Because the available literature was overwhelmingly comprised of observational studies and case series, representing low-quality evidence, a decision was made that the document would assume the form of a consensus statement rather than a formally graded guideline. The goal of this document is to provide critical care practitioners with essential information and practical recommendations related to management of the potential organ donor, based on the available literature and expert consensus.

Background: The rapid response system (RRS) has been widely implemented in the US. Despite efforts to encourage activation of the RRS, adherence to activation criteria remains suboptimal. Barriers to adherence to RRS activation criteria remains poorly understood., Objective: To identify barriers associated to activation of the RRS system by clinical staff., Methods: Physicians and nurses on the medical and surgical wards of a New York City community hospital were surveyed to identify barriers to six criteria for activation of the RRS. A paper questionnaire was disseminated. We assessed familiarity with, agreement with, and recognition of perceived benefit of the RRS calling criteria using a Likert scale. Self-reported adherence to RRS activation was also measured on a Likert scale. Logistic regression was used to assess the association between the barriers and the six RRS criteria., Results: Sixty eight physicians and 16 nurses completed the survey; response rates were 59% and 35%, respectively. Self-reported adherence rate was ≤25% for the six criteria. We observed that as the familiarity with, agreement with, and perceived benefit of activating the RRS increases, the self-reported adherence also increases., Conclusions: Adherence to activation of RRT based on the six criteria measured is low. As familiarity with, agreement with, and perceived benefit of the RRS activating criteria rise, self-reported adherence rates increase, with familiarity having the greatest impact. These results can be used to develop tailored interventions to increase adherence to RRT activation in health care institutions., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

One barrier for implementing programs of uncontrolled organ donation after the circulatory determination of death is the lack of consensus on the precise moment of death. Our panel was convened to study this question after we performed a similar analysis on the moment of death in controlled organ donation after the circulatory determination of death. We concluded that death could be determined by showing the permanent or irreversible cessation of circulation and respiration. Circulatory irreversibility may be presumed when optimal cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts have failed to restore circulation and at least a 7-minute period has elapsed thereafter during which autoresuscitation to restored circulation could occur. We advise against the use of postmortem organ support technologies that reestablish circulation of warm oxygenated blood because of their risk of retroactively invalidating the required conditions on which death was declared., (Copyright © 2013. Published by Mosby, Inc.)

Background: Patients in step-down units are at higher risk for developing cardiorespiratory instability than are patients in general care areas. A triage tool is needed to identify at-risk patients who therefore require increased surveillance., Objectives: To determine demographic (age, race, sex) and clinical (Charlson Comorbidity Index at admission, admitting diagnosis, care area of origin, admission service) differences between patients in step-down units who did and did not experience cardiorespiratory instability., Methods: In a prospective longitudinal pilot study, 326 surgical-trauma patients had continuous monitoring of heart rate, respirations, and oxygen saturation and intermittent noninvasive measurement of blood pressure. Cardiorespiratory instability was defined as heart rate less than 40/min or greater than 140/min, respirations less than 8/min or greater than 36/min, oxygen saturation less than 85%, or blood pressure less than 80 or greater than 200 mm Hg systolic or greater than 110 mm Hg diastolic. Patients' status was classified as unstable if their values crossed these thresholds even once during their stay., Results: Cardiorespiratory instability occurred in 34% of patients. The Charlson Comorbidity Index was the only variable associated with instability conditions. Compared with patients with no comorbid conditions (50%), more patients with at least 1 comorbid condition (66%) experienced instability (P = .006). Each 1-unit increase in the Charlson Index increased the odds for cardiorespiratory instability by 1.17 (P = .03)., Conclusion: Although the relationship between Charlson Comorbidity Index and cardiorespiratory instability was weak, adding it to current surveillance systems might improve detection of instability.

Objectives: Cardiorespiratory instability may be undetected in monitored step-down unit patients. We explored whether using an integrated monitoring system that continuously amalgamates single noninvasive monitoring parameters (heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and peripheral oxygen saturation) into AN instability index value (INDEX) correlated with our single-parameter cardiorespiratory instability concern criteria, and whether nurse response to INDEX alert for patient attention was associated with instability reduction., Design: Prospective, longitudinal evaluation in sequential 8-, 16-, and 8-wk phases (phase I, phase II, and phase III, respectively)., Setting: A 24-bed trauma step-down unit in single urban tertiary care center., Patients: All monitored patients., Interventions: Phase I: Patients received continuous single-channel monitoring (heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and peripheral oxygen saturation) and standard care; INDEX background was recorded but not displayed. Phase II: INDEX was background-recorded; staff was educated on use. Phase III: Staff used a clinical response algorithm for INDEX alerts., Measurement and Main Results: Any monitored parameters even transiently beyond local cardiorespiratory instability concern triggers (heart rate of <40 or >140 beats/min, respiratory rate of <8 or >36 breaths/min, systolic blood pressure of <80 or >200 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure of >110 mm Hg, and peripheral oxygen saturation of <85%) defined INSTABILITYmin. INSTABILITYmin further judged as both persistent and serious defined INSTABILITYfull. The INDEX alert states were defined as INDEXmin and INDEXfull by using same classification. Phase I and phase III admissions (323 vs. 308) and monitoring (18,258 vs. 18,314 hrs) were similar. INDEXmin and INDEXfull correlated significantly with INSTABILITYmin and INSTABILITYfull (r = .713 and r = .815, respectively, p < .0001). INDEXmin occurred before INSTABILITYmin in 80% of cases (mean advance time 9.4 ± 9.2 mins). Phase I and phase III admissions were similarly likely to develop INSTABILITYmin (35% vs. 33%), but INSTABILITYmin duration/admission decreased from phase I to phase III (p = .018). Both INSTABILITYfull episodes/admission (p = .03) and INSTABILITYfull duration/admission (p = .05) decreased in phase III., Conclusion: The integrated monitoring system INDEX correlated significantly with cardiorespiratory instability concern criteria, usually occurred before overt instability, and when coupled with a nursing alert was associated with decreased cardiorespiratory instability concern criteria in step-down unit patients.

Introduction: Arterial catheterisation is used for continuous haemodynamic monitoring in patients undergoing surgery and in critical care units. Although it is considered a safe procedure, a major complication such as arterial occlusion and limb gangrene can occur., Objective: To determine the incidence, outcome and potential to avoid complications associated with arterial catheterisation., Methods: The number of arterial catheterisation was determined using an anaesthesiology and critical care medicine billing database over a period of 4 years (1 January 2003 to 31 December 2006). Possible major complications were identified from two hospital databases; all identified charts were screened and then reviewed by an expert panel that determined causation. A major complication was defined as requiring operative intervention and/or resulting in permanent harm., Results: 15 (0.084%) major complications were identified among 17 840 instances of arterial catheterisation insertions. Of 15 arterial catheterisations, nine were performed in the operating room and six in the intensive care unit. Nine patients suffered ischaemic injury, which progressed to gangrene in three patients. Three patients developed haematoma that required surgical evacuation; two of these required vascular repair. One patient had compartment syndrome requiring fasciotomy and two patients had sheared catheter fragments that needed to be removed. All 15 patients had multiple comorbidities, and those in the operating room had an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of >or=3. Seven (46.6%) had arterial catheterisation done under emergent circumstances. Six (40%) died during hospitalisation because of complications unrelated to arterial catheterisation., Conclusion: Arterial catheterisation had a very low rate of major complications. They seem associated with high severity of illness and emergency surgery.

Background: Most reports of Rapid Response Systems (RRS) focus on the efferent, response component of the system, although evidence suggests that improved vital sign monitoring and recognition of a clinical crisis may have outcome benefits. There is no consensus regarding how best to detect patient deterioration or a clear description of what constitutes patient monitoring., Methods: A consensus conference of international experts in safety, RRS, healthcare technology, education, and risk prediction was convened to review current knowledge and opinion on clinical monitoring. Using established consensus procedures, four topic areas were addressed: (1) To what extent do physiologic abnormalities predict risk for patient deterioration? (2) Do workload changes and their potential stresses on the healthcare environment increase patient risk in a predictable manner? (3) What are the characteristics of an "ideal" monitoring system, and to what extent does currently available technology meet this need? and (4) How can monitoring be categorized to facilitate comparing systems?, Results and Conclusions: The major findings include: (1) vital sign aberrations predict risk, (2) monitoring patients more effectively may improve outcome, although some risk is random, (3) the workload implications of monitoring on the clinical workforce have not been explored, but are amenable to study and should be investigated, (4) the characteristics of an ideal monitoring system are identifiable, and it is possible to categorize monitoring modalities. It may also be possible to describe monitoring levels, and a system is proposed., (Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Death statutes permit physicians to declare death on the basis of irreversible cessation of circulatory-respiratory or brain functions. The growing practice of organ donation after circulatory determination of death now requires physicians to exercise greater specificity in circulatory-respiratory death determination. We studied circulatory-respiratory death determination to clarify its concept, practice, and application to innovative circulatory determination of death protocols., Results: It is ethically and legally appropriate to procure organs when permanent cessation (will not return) of circulation and respiration has occurred but before irreversible cessation (cannot return) has occurred because permanent cessation: 1) is an established medical practice standard for determining death; 2) is the meaning of "irreversible" in the Uniform Determination of Death Act; and 3) does not violate the "Dead Donor Rule.", Conclusions: The use of unmodified extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the circulatory determination of death donor after death is declared should be abandoned because, by restoring brain circulation, it retroactively negates the previous death determination. Modifications of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation that avoid this problem by excluding brain circulation are contrived, invasive, and, if used, should require consent of surrogates. Heart donation in circulatory determination of death is acceptable if proper standards are followed to declare donor death after establishing the permanent cessation of circulation. Pending additional data on "auto-resuscitation," we recommend that all circulatory determination of death programs should utilize the prevailing standard of 2 to 5 mins of demonstrated mechanical asystole before declaring death.

There is growing evidence that early detection and response to physiological deterioration can improve outcomes for hospitalized infants, children, and adults. A rapid response system (RRS) is a multidisciplinary system to decrease the incidence of in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrests by detecting a crisis event and triggering a response and by dispatching a responding team. For quality improvement of the system, a review mechanism is vital to identify opportunities for preventing future events or improving response after crises occur. The whole system requires an administrative component that oversees the RRS and provides support. The system is designed to locate and respond rapidly to a suddenly critically ill patient who lacks necessary critical care resources. Over the past decade, RRSs have been widely implemented in adult practice in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavian countries.

Up to 17% of hospital admissions are complicated by serious adverse events unrelated to the patients presenting medical condition. Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) review patients during early phase of deterioration to reduce patient morbidity and mortality. However, reports of the efficacy of these teams are varied. The aims of this article were to explore the concept of RRT dose, to assess whether RRT dose improves patient outcomes, and to assess whether there is evidence that inclusion of a physician in the team impacts on the effectiveness of the team. A review of available literature suggested that the method of reporting RRT utilization rate, (RRT dose) is calls per 1,000 admissions. Hospitals with mature RRTs that report improved patient outcome following RRT introduction have a RRT dose between 25.8 and 56.4 calls per 1,000 admissions. Four studies report an association between increasing RRT dose and reduced in-hospital cardiac arrest rates. Another reported that increasing RRT dose reduced in-hospital mortality for surgical but not medical patients. The MERIT study investigators reported a negative relationship between MET-like activity and the incidence of serious adverse events. Fourteen studies reported improved patient outcome in association with the introduction of a RRT, and 13/14 involved a Physician-led MET. These findings suggest that if the RRT is the major method for reviewing serious adverse events, the dose of RRT activation must be sufficient for the frequency and severity of the problem it is intended to treat. If the RRT dose is too low then it is unlikely to improve patient outcomes. Increasing RRT dose appears to be associated with reduction in cardiac arrests. The majority of studies reporting improved patient outcome in association with the introduction of an RRT involve a MET, suggesting that inclusion of a physician in the team is an important determinant of its effectiveness.

Background: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) improves outcomes in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. Few hospitals have protocol-driven plans that include TH. We implemented a series of process interventions designed to increase TH use and improve outcomes in patients successfully resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) or in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA)., Methods and Results: Linked interventions including a TH order sheet, verbal and written feedback to individual providers, an educational program, TH "kit" and on-call consultants to assist with patient care and hypothermia induction were implemented between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2007 in a large, university-affiliated, tertiary care center. We then completed a retrospective review of all patients treated for cardiac arrest during the study period. Descriptive statistics, chi-squared analyses, or Fisher's exact test were used as appropriate. A p value <0.05 was considered significant. 135 OHCA patients and 106 IHCA patients were eligible for post-arrest care. TH use increased each year in the OHCA group (from 6% to 65% to 76%; p<0.001) and IHCA group (from 0% to 36% to 53%; p=.02). A good outcome was achieved in 21% and 8% of comatose patients with OHCA and IHCA, respectively. Patients with OHCA and ventricular dysrhythmia were more likely to have a good outcome with TH treatment than without it (good outcome in 57% vs. 8%; p=.005)., Conclusion: Implementing a series of aggressive interventions increased appropriate TH use and was associated with improved outcomes in our facility.

Background: To our knowledge, detection of cardiorespiratory instability using noninvasive monitoring via electronic integrated monitoring systems (IMSs) in intermediate or step-down units (SDUs) has not been described. We undertook this study to characterize respiratory status in an SDU population, to define features of cardiorespiratory instability, and to evaluate an IMS index value that should trigger medical emergency team (MET) activation., Methods: This descriptive, prospective, single-blinded, observational study evaluated all patients in a 24-bed SDU in a university medical center during 8 weeks from November 16, 2006, to January 11, 2007. An IMS (BioSign; OBS Medical, Carmel, Indiana) was inserted into the standard noninvasive hardwired monitoring system and used heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and peripheral oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry to develop a single neural networked signal, or BioSign Index (BSI). Data were analyzed for cardiorespiratory instability according to BSI trigger value and local MET activation criteria. Staff were blinded to BSI data collected in 326 patients (total census)., Results: Data for 18 248 hours of continuous monitoring were captured. Data for peripheral oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry were absent in 30% of monitored hours despite being a standard of care. Cardiorespiratory status in most patients (243 of 326 [74.5%]) was stable throughout their SDU stay, and instability in the remaining patients (83 of 326 [25%]) was exhibited infrequently. We recorded 111 MET activation criteria events caused by cardiorespiratory instability in 59 patients, but MET activation for this cause occurred in only 7 patients. All MET events were detected by BSI in advance (mean, 6.3 hours) in a bimodal distribution (>6 hours and < or =45 minutes)., Conclusions: Cardiorespiratory instability, while uncommon and often unrecognized, was preceded by elevation of the IMS index. Continuous noninvasive monitoring augmented by IMS provides sensitive detection of early instability in patients in SDUs.

In 2006, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws rewrote the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. To overcome the problem of family members prohibiting organ donation from their deceased loved ones even when a donor card existed, the commissioners modified the act to prevent end-of-life care from precluding organ donation. An unintended consequence of the new wording creates the potential for end-of-life care that prioritizes care of the potential donor organs over care and comfort of the dying person. The commissioners have now revised the act, but the original version has already been legislated in many states, with others poised to follow. To protect dying patients' wishes about their end-of-life care, states that have legislated or are considering the original act must replace it with the revised version. A long-term and important ethical precept must stand: Care of dying patients takes precedence over organs. Another laudable goal must be promoted as well: Organ donation is an important part of end-of-life care.

Objective: To study the incidence, outcome and potentially avoidable causes of inpatient cardiopulmonary arrests in a hospital with a "mature" rapid response system (RRS)., Design: Retrospective observational study of all cardiopulmonary arrest events in 2005., Setting: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital, a 730-bed academic, urban, tertiary care adult hospital in the USA., Interventions: None., Results: During the calendar year 2005, the 16th year since the establishment of a medical emergency team (MET)/RRS, the MET was activated 1942 times; 111 of these events were cardiopulmonary arrest events (3.26 arrest events/1000 patient admissions), and 1831 were non-arrest patient crisis events (53.8 crisis events/1000 patient admissions). A review of the 104 index cardiopulmonary arrest events revealed that 26 (25%) patients survived to discharge. Event survival decreased as the intensity of patient monitoring decreased (83% in intensive care units, 69% in monitored, and 36% in unmonitored units; p = 0.002), but the rate of subsequent in-hospital death was higher in the more intensely monitored settings (60%, 38%, 23%, respectively; p = 0.022). Nineteen (18%) arrests were deemed to be "potentially avoidable". Avoidable arrests were classified as: failure to adhere to established hospital patient care guideline or policy; inadequate monitoring or surveillance; or delays in dealing with patient needs including delay in MET/RRS activation., Conclusions: In spite of the high crisis event rate and a low rate of cardiac arrests, potentially avoidable cardiopulmonary arrests still occurred. According to the present study more cardiopulmonary arrest events might be avoided by better adherence to hospital patient care policies, by closer monitoring on floors and by preventing delays in addressing deterioration in patient condition.

Background: The respiratory care department of one campus within our health system evaluated simulation-based medical education for training and competency evaluation of the mini bronchoalveolar lavage (mini-BAL) procedure, with an emphasis on patient safety and procedure performance standards., Methods: Training and competency evaluation occurred in 4 phases. In phase one, 24 staff respiratory therapists (RTs) were randomly chosen and individually underwent a simulation-based test of their mini-BAL performance, using a patient-simulator mannequin. Their performance on this test reflected the effectiveness of traditional training methods. In phase two, 83 staff RTs were given unlimited access to a Web-based curriculum on mini-BAL, including a video of a mini-BAL. They then took 2 tests: one online Web-based test, then a patient-simulator test. In phase three, the same 83 RTs attended a workshop that used the patient simulator for training and practice, then were re-evaluated with the patient-simulator test. Phase four was another simulator-based re-evaluation, 90 days after phase three, to study skills retention., Results: The mean scores were: phase one 73 +/- 10%, phase two 77 +/- 11%, phase three 95 +/- 5% (p < 0.01), phase four 92 +/- 8%., Conclusion: Our results suggest that employing simulation technology within a comprehensive departmental program can enhance staff training.

Background: Studies have established that physiologic instability and services mismatching precede adverse events in hospitalized patients. In response to these considerations, the concept of a Rapid Response System (RRS) has emerged. The responding team is commonly known as a medical emergency team (MET), rapid response team (RRT), or critical care outreach (CCO). Studies show that an RRS may improve outcome, but questions remain regarding the benefit, design elements, and advisability of implementing a MET system., Methods: In June 2005 an International Conference on Medical Emergency Teams (ICMET) included experts in patient safety, hospital medicine, critical care medicine, and METs. Seven of 25 had no experience with an RRS, and the remainder had experience with one of the three major forms of RRS. After preconference telephone and e-mail conversations by the panelists in which questions to be discussed were characterized, literature reviewed, and preliminary answers created, the panelists convened for 2 days to create a consensus document. Four major content areas were addressed: What is a MET response? Is there a MET syndrome? What are barriers to METS? How should outcome be measured? Panelists considered whether all hospitals should implement an RRS., Results: Patients needing an RRS intervention are suddenly critically ill and have a mismatch of resources to needs. Hospitals should implement an RRS, which consists of four elements: an afferent, "crisis detection" and "response triggering" mechanism; an efferent, predetermined rapid response team; a governance/administrative structure to supply and organize resources; and a mechanism to evaluate crisis antecedents and promote hospital process improvement to prevent future events.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients receiving corticosteroids, which have been identified as an independent predictor of hyperglycemia., Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of electronic medical records of patients admitted to the general medicine service at a university hospital during a 1-month period. Pharmacy charges were used to identify patients receiving high doses (> or = 40 mg/day of prednisone or the equivalent) of corticosteroids for at least 2 days. Occurrence of hyperglycemia and the presence of risk factors, including history of diabetes, duration of corticosteroid therapy, concurrent parenteral nutrition, antibiotic therapy, use of medications associated with hyperglycemia, severity of illness scores, and hospital length of stay, were determined. Patients experiencing multiple episodes of hyperglycemia (glucose levels > or = 200 mg/dL) were compared with those who had < or = 1 hyperglycemic episode. Patients without a history of diabetes were assessed separately., Results: During the 1-month study period, 66 of 617 patients received high doses of corticosteroids, but only 50 of the 66 had glucose measurements. Hyperglycemia was documented in 32 of these 50 patients (64%), and multiple hyperglycemic episodes occurred in 26 (52%). A history of diabetes was documented in 12 of 26 patients who experienced multiple episodes, in comparison with 4 of 24 patients with < or = 1 episode of hyperglycemia (P = 0.035). Among patients without a history of diabetes, 19 of 34 (56%) had hyperglycemia at least once. Patients with multiple episodes of hyperglycemia had more comorbid diseases, longer duration of corticosteroid therapy, and longer duration of hospital stay., Conclusion: Hyperglycemia occurs in a majority of hospitalized patients receiving high doses of corticosteroids. In light of the poor outcomes associated with hyperglycemia, protocols targeting its detection and management should be available for patients who receive corticosteroid therapy.

Aim: This paper reports a study of nurses' perceptions about medical emergency teams and their impact on patient care and the nursing work environment., Background: In many acute care hospitals, nurses can summon emergency help by calling a medical emergency team, which is a team of expert critical care professionals adept at handling patient crisis scenarios. Critical care nurses form the core of such teams. In addition, of all the healthcare professionals, nurses are the ones who most often need and call for medical emergency team assistance., Methods: A simple anonymous questionnaire distributed amongst 300 staff nurses at two sites of an acute care teaching hospital in the United States of America in mid-January of 2005., Results: A total of 248 nurses responded to the survey (response rate = 82.7%). Ninety-three per cent of the nurses reported that medical emergency teams improved patient care and 84% felt that they improved the nursing work environment. Veteran nurses (with at least 10 years of experience) and new nurses (<1 year's experience) were more likely to perceive an improvement in patient care than other nurses (P = 0.025). Nurses who had called a medical emergency team on more than one occasion were more likely to value their ability to call a team (P = 0.002). Nearly sixty-five per cent of respondents said they would consider institutional medical emergency team response as a factor when seeking a new job in the future. Only 7% suggested a change in the team response process, and 4% suggested a change in activation criteria., Conclusions: Most nurses surveyed had a favourable opinion of the medical emergency team. Our findings suggest that other institutions should consider implementing a medical emergency team programme as a strategy to improve patient care and nurse working environment.

Objective: To study the impact of time of day, day of week and level of patient monitoring on medical emergency team (MET) activation., Design: Retrospective observational study of all MET and cardiac arrest events between October 2001 and March 2005., Setting: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital, a tertiary care teaching facility in the United States., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: Cardiac arrest and MET event rate during the day (7 am to 6:59 pm) and night (7 pm to 6:59 am) overall; for weekdays and weekends; and from unmonitored, monitored, and intensive care units (ICUs). There were 605 cardiac arrest and 4,072 MET events. MET event rate was higher during the day than at night in unmonitored units (62% day vs. 38% night; p<.001) and monitored units (59% day vs. 41% night; p<.001) but not in ICUs (47% day vs. 53% night; p=.20). Unmonitored units had a greater daytime increase in MET event rate than monitored units (63% vs. 46%), whereas ICUs showed an 11% decline compared with night. The MET day vs. night difference was greater on weekdays (65% day vs. 35% night; p<.001) than on weekends (56% day vs. 44% night; p<.001). Cardiac arrest event rate showed no diurnal pattern in any unit setting but had a higher daytime event rate during weekdays (57% day vs. 43% night; p=.004)., Conclusions: More MET events take place during the day. MET events in unmonitored units have a greater diurnal variability than those from monitored units. ICUs show no diurnal variation in MET event rate. Our results suggest a significant variability in the hospital ability to consistently detect patients who meet MET activation criteria.

The objective of the multidisciplinary expert Consensus Panel on Research with the Recently Dead (CPRRD) was to craft ethics guidelines for research with the recently dead. The CPRRD recommends that research with the recently dead: (i) receive scientific and ethical review and oversight; (ii) involve the community of potential research subjects; (iii) be coordinated with organ procurement organizations; (iv) not conflict with organ donation or required autopsy; (v) use procedures respectful of the dead; (vi) be restricted to one procedure per day; (vii) preferably be authorized by first-person consent, though both general advance research directives and surrogate consent are acceptable; (viii) protect confidentiality; (ix) not impose costs on subjects' estates or next of kin and not involve payment; (x) clearly explain ultimate disposition of the body.

Recently, three fundamental changes have been introduced in medical education, all of particular importance to critical care medicine: (1) clinical teaching and medical practice now emphasize evidence-based medicine, (2) patient safety aspects are increasingly stressed, and (3) use of simulation in medical training is spreading rapidly. In 1999, the disturbingly high frequency of life-threatening or even lethal medical complications was emphasized by the Institute of Medicine in the book To Err Is Human. The Institute of Medicine recommended establishing interdisciplinary team training programs incorporating efficient methods such as simulation. Although simulation has been used by the aviation industry and the military for several decades, only during the past decade has this become a teaching method in medicine. Currently, two full-scale computerized simulators are available: METI, provided by Medical Education Technologies, Sarasota, Florida, and SimMan, manufactured by Laerdal Medical, in Stavanger, Norway. The simulation center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was established in 1994 and has grown quickly to its current large facility, where, in academic year 2003 to 2004, approximately 8000 healthcare professionals were trained on the SimMan. Courses taught include clinical procedures and decision making in perioperative medicine, acute medicine, pharmacology, anesthesiology, airway management, bronchoscopy, pediatric versus adult crisis management, critical events in obstetrics, and crisis team training. Advantages of simulation training over traditional medical education methods include (1) provision of a safe environment for both patient and student during training in risky procedures, (2) unlimited exposure to rare but complicated and important clinical events, (3) the ability to plan and shape training opportunities rather than waiting for a suitable situation to arise clinically, (4) the ability to provide immediate feedback, (5) the opportunity to repeat performance, (6) the opportunity for team training, and (7) lower costs, both direct and indirect. Within the next decade, use of computerized simulators for evidence-based education and training in medicine is expected to develop considerably and spread rapidly into a very important domain of medical schools throughout the entire world.