Pediatric rapid response system innovations

1

ABSTRACT

Rapid Response Systems (RRSs) are an organizational approach to support the timely recognition and treatment of decompensating patients and are used in many pediatric hospitals. These systems are comprised of afferent and efferent Limbs, as well as oversight arms. When incorporated into an RRS, standardized care algorithms can be helpful in identifying deteriorating patients and improving behaviors of the multidisciplinary team. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of pediatric RRS and provide an example in which standardized care algorithms developed for the efferent limb of a pediatric RRS were associated with improvement in early escalation of care.

PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY

The Rapid Response System (RRS) is used in hospitals to recognize and care for hospitalized patients that are decompensating outside of an Intensive Care Unit. RRSs are made up of two main response components. The afferent limb focuses on the recognition and calls for help; the efferent limb focuses on correcting the deteriorating patient’s physiology. Much energy has been put into afferent limb development to identify worsening patients before they progress to full cardiac or respiratory arrest. Standardization of efferent limb care algorithms can assist in developing and maintaining a shared mental model of care to improve communication and function of the multidisciplinary team.

KEYWORDS:

• Pediatric rapid response
• patient safety
• psychological distress
• training
• standardization of care
• care algorithm
• stress capacity
• psychological safety
• complete clinician

Disclosure of financial/other conflicts of interest

The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.