Effectiveness of a daytime rapid response system in hospitalized surgical ward patients

BACKGROUND: Clinical deteriorations during hospitalization are often preventable with a rapid response system (RRS). We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a daytime RRS for surgical hospitalized patients. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in 20 general surgical wards at a 1,779-bed University hospital from August 2013 to July 2017 (August 2013 to July 2015, pre-RRS-period; August 2015 to July 2017, post-RRS-period). The primary outcome was incidence of cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) when the RRS was operating. The secondary outcomes were the incidence of total and preventable cardiopulmonary arrest, in-hospital mortality, the percentage of “do not resuscitate” orders, and the survival of discharged CPA patients. RESULTS: The relative risk (RR) of CPA per 1,000 admissions during RRS operational hours (weekdays from 7 AM to 7 PM) in the post-RRS-period compared to the pre-RRS-period was 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.25 to 1.13; P=0.099) and the RR of total CPA regardless of RRS operating hours was 0.76 (95% CI, 0.46 to 1.28; P=0.301). The preventable CPA after RRS implementation was significantly lower than that before RRS implementation (RR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.11 to 0.88; P=0.028). There were no statistical differences in in-hospital mortality and the survival rate of patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest. Do-not-resuscitate decisions significantly increased during after RRS implementation periods compared to pre-RRS periods (RR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.40 to 2.59; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The day-time implementation of the RRS did not significantly reduce the rate of CPA whereas the system effectively reduced the rate of preventable CPA during periods when the system was operating.