Activities of a medical emergency team twenty years after its introduction.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: We describe and quantify the wide range of activities that a mature Medical Emergency Team can progressively perform. METHODS: The activities performed by a Medical Emergency Team 20 years after its introduction were prospectively collected during 105 consecutive days. RESULTS: The main activity was focused on the follow-up visits to previously treated critically ill patients (mean 7.5 visits/die in working days, 5.1 in the others). A large amount of other scheduled or unscheduled activities (like sedation or analgesia for diagnostic procedures, central venous line placement, phone consultation regarding critical care aspects of treatments) were performed on average, 7.3 side-activities/die in working days and 5.2 in the others. First consultations in patients not previously seen were on average 3.1/die on working days, 2.4 in the others. Cardiac arrest accounted for 27 (9%) of first time visits. CONCLUSIONS: A Medical Emergency Team can progressively perform many kinds of activities. An evaluation limited to the reduction of in-hospital cardiac arrests or a too early assessment may underestimate its beneficial effects on the Hospital complexity.