Finally time for rapid response systems to be well MET in Europe?

Excerpt

Time is life. In medicine there are many “time-dependent” diseases: sepsis and cardiac arrest to name but two [1, 2]. In order to improve patient outcome, it is imperative to define and characterize hospital workflows to facilitate good process of care. Several factors need to be synchronized, including coordination between different departments in the hospital [3]. Early communication and a multidisciplinary approach can dramatically change the management of patients. The goal of modern intensive care medicine is to optimize and maximize quality of patient care. It is desirable to foster an overview of the process of critical care and base it on clinical need of patients and less on hospital location. Clinical management and monitoring of severely ill patients before admission to intensive care units (ICU) have frequently been shown to be suboptimal [4, 5]. Delays in patient admission to ICU are associated with a longer hospital stay and worse outcome. Recently, Harris et al. prospectively analysed the outcome of a large UK population from 48 hospitals and concluded that the deteriorating ward patient has a high short-term mortality; however, with early ICU admission an impressive 50 % reduction of 90-day mortality is possible [6]. …