Time to Stop Questioning the Effectiveness of Rapid Response Teams

Although identifying and intervening on a deteriorating hospitalized patient before a life-threatening event occurs makes clinical and logical sense, data on rapid response teams' (RRTs) effects on relevant outcomes has been mixed (NEJM JW Hosp Med Jan 14 2008; [e-pub] and J Hosp Med 2007; 2:422; NEJM JW Hosp Med Jan 25 2010; [e-pub] and Arch Intern Med 2010; 170:18; and NEJM JW Hosp Med Nov 2010 and Anesth Analg 2010; 111:679). In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 30 moderate-to-high-quality studies (from 2000 to 2014) that included >3 million hospital admissions, researchers evaluated effects of RRT implementation on in-hospital mortality and cardiopulmonary arrest (CA) among hospitalized adults outside of intensive care units (…