Evaluation of the five-year operation period of a rapid response team led by an intensive care physician at a university hospital

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the implementation of a multidisciplinary rapid response team led by an intensive care physician at a university hospital. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study analyzed assessment forms that were completed during the assessments made by the rapid response team of a university hospital between March 2009 and February 2014. RESULTS: Data were collected from 1,628 assessments performed by the rapid response team for 1,024 patients and included 1,423 code yellow events and 205 code blue events. The number of assessments was higher in the first year of operation of the rapid response team. The multivariate analysis indicated that age (OR 1.02; 95%CI 1.02 - 1.03; p < 0.001), being male (OR 1.48; 95%CI 1.09 - 2.01; p = 0.01), having more than one assessment (OR 3.31; 95%CI, 2.32 - 4.71; p < 0.001), hospitalization for clinical care (OR 1.77; 95%CI 1.29 - 2.42; p < 0.001), the request of admission to the intensive care unit after the code event (OR 4.75; 95%CI 3.43 - 6.59; p < 0.001), and admission to the intensive care unit before the code event (OR 2.13; 95%CI 1.41 - 3.21; p = 0.001) were risk factors for hospital mortality in patients who were seen for code yellow events. CONCLUSION: The hospital mortality rates were higher than those found in previous studies. The number of assessments was higher in the first year of operation of the rapid response team. Moreover, hospital mortality was higher among patients admitted for clinical care.