RRT team formed to provide help with complex cases

A team of providers who enhance the care of adult non-ICU inpatients and address minor medical emergencies that occur throughout outpatient facilities at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital debuted Sept. 4.

The Adult Rapid Response Team (RRT) is composed of a stat nurse, trained in intensive care, and experienced in assisting on complex cases, and an ICU-trained respiratory therapist. Eventually, an advanced practice provider (APP), a critical care trained nurse practitioner or physician assistant, will join the team.

The RRT’s training and background will help them recognize patients in distress more quickly and provide assistance to the bedside care teams in addressing complex patient cases.

The RRT will not replace the Code Blue team, which cares for patients that are in significant distress.

The RRT team will be called to action by Medcom after notification from a bedside nurse, or other employee regarding a complex case. Medcom will page the team and direct them to the patient room or to an outpatient location to provide assistance.

The team may also be alerted through an automatic page by Epic , which may also page the unit charge nurse. The page would be initiated based on the Medical Early Warning Score, an Epic program that charts a patient’s vital signs along with physiologic events. The program assigns a score and when a patient score reaches seven, the charge nurse will be alerted to assess the patient. If the patient score reaches eight, the RRT will be paged to respond and assess that patient.