Home From The Editor Where do you weigh in on rapid response teams?

Where do you weigh in on rapid response teams?

March 2009

Published in the March 2009 issue of Today’s Hospitalist

RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS may be a favorite initiative of hospitals and hospitalists, but a vigorous debate is underway about how well the concept actually works.

In this month’s issue, we talk to the lead author of a recent study that raised serious questions about the effectiveness of these teams. Put simply, the study found that rapid response teams didn’t significantly reduce the number of codes or improve mortality.

I’ll let you read for yourself exactly what researchers found, but this latest study on rapid response teams presents evidence that seems pretty damning. Or does it?

I say that because another article in this issue “a commentary piece by one of our resident bloggers, Erik DeLue, MD, MBA “offers a very different perspective. He admits that his view is based completely on anecdotes and common sense rather than hard data, but he makes a good case that rapid response teams do bridge a major gap in health care coverage.

Dr. DeLue hypothesizes that the concept probably works better in community hospitals than in academic medical centers, which happened to be the setting of the new study. And he adds that rapid response teams have absolutely improved working conditions for hospitalists, who are no longer on the hook for every crisis that pops up.

Our own data show that almost half of the readers of Today’s Hospitalist are involved with rapid response teams, so there’s a good chance that you have your own take on these teams. I’d like to hear what you think.

edoyleEdward Doyle
Editor and Publisher
edoyle@todayshospitalist.com