The Medical Emergency Team

TLDR

The concept of a Medical Emergency Team was developed to rapidly identify and manage seriously ill patients at risk of cardiopulmonary arrest and other high‑risk conditions. The aim of this study was to describe the utilization and outcome of Medical Emergency Team interventions over a one‑year period at a teaching hospital in South Western Sydney. Data were prospectively collected using a standardized form to record Medical Emergency Team interventions. Among 522 calls, cardiopulmonary resuscitation occurred in 28%, the team was alerted by specific condition criteria in 48% and by physiological/pathological abnormalities in 23%, and survival to discharge after arrest was 29% versus 76% for other emergencies.

Abstract

The concept of a Medical Emergency Team was developed in order to rapidly identify and manage seriously ill patients at risk of cardiopulmonary arrest and other high-risk conditions. The aim of this study was to describe the utilization and outcome of Medical Emergency Team interventions over a one-year period at a teaching hospital in South Western Sydney. Data was collected prospectively using a standardized form. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation occurred in 148/522 (28%) calls. Alerting the team using the specific condition criteria occurred in 253/522 (48%) calls and on physiological/pathological abnormality criteria in 121/522 (23%) calls. Survival rate to hospital discharge following cardiopulmonary arrest was low (29%), compared with other medical emergencies (76%).