Background: Modified Early Warning System(MEWS) is a scoring system based on vitals sign and clinical observation which has been implemented in 2007 as a useful tool to timely recognition and early intervention. The effectiveness of implementation of MEWS as an important tool for rapid response team has been a question and the main objective of [...]

Background: Behavioral emergencies in the hospital are on the rise, leading to increased workplace violence. A small body of evidence recommends an inpatient Behavioral Emergency Response Team (BERT), a multi-disciplinary team to de-escalate behavioral emergencies that can be harmful to the patient or staff. Observational studies have reported that BERT can reduce workplace violence, use [...]

Background: Numerous early warning systems (EWS) exist as potential tools to improve patient safety. Our system recognized higher than peer rates of rapid response (RRT) utilization as well as higher than desired out-of-ICU code blue rates leading to a desire to implement a EWS system. Over a three-year period we reviewed the literature, developed, and [...]

Background: Sepsis is the leading cause of death in US hospitals; prompt recognition and treatment are critical. Early sepsis recognition and treatment varies depending on location (ED/floor/ICU) and evaluation time (presentation vs during stay). “Sepsis response teams” (SRT) improve sepsis care. After our hospital system implemented a “best-practice alert” utilizing Epic’s “sepsis score” (SS) to [...]

Background: Up to 17% of all strokes occur in patients hospitalized for another diagnosis or procedure, and in-hospital strokes complicate up to 0.06% of all admissions. In-hospital strokes carry higher mortality, longer length of stay and greater disability than community-onset strokes. Multiple factors contribute to the worse outcomes of in-hospital stroke. Prompt recognition and treatment [...]

Background: As the concept of a rapid response team continues to evolve nationwide, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the proactive monitoring of patients through surveillance tools is important to prevent adverse events. However, it is notable that the interpretation these surveillance tools require a higher level of clinical expertise and it is more and [...]

Background: The hospitalist role has traditionally been within the hospital setting where a dedicated Rapid Response Team (RRT) and critical care support are available to respond to acute clinical events. While hospitalist involvement in RRT/Codes can vary by institution, the academic hospitalist is infrequently the RRT/Code team leader. As the hospitalist’s scope expands to new [...]

Background: Sepsis is a leading cause of death in US hospitals, and is a major contributor to hospital mortality and length of stay. Much has been done in hospitals nationwide to identify and treat sepsis early. Similarly, at Bridgeport Hospital, a clinical redesign was initiated to identify and act on patients with signs of sepsis [...]

Background: A working group was created to look at the care of behavioral patients in the hospital. This group focused primarily on the rapid response teams (RRTs) related to behavioral emergencies in this patient population. Currently if a patient decompensates psychiatrically, rather than their psychiatric issue be addressed promptly, an RRT gets called and many [...]

Background: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third most common cause of death from cardiovascular disease despite significant improvements in diagnosis and management in recent years. PE patients are risk-stratified to guide treatment, and multidisciplinary PE response teams (PERTs) have been established to optimize patient care. This study aims to compare PE patient outcomes over a [...]