Kathryn E. Roberts

Impact of Rapid Response System Implementation on Critical Deterioration Events in Children

IMPORTANCE Rapid response systems aim to identify and rescue deteriorating hospitalized patients. Previous pediatric rapid response system implementation studies have shown variable effectiveness in preventing rare, catastrophic outcomes such as cardiac arrest and death. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of pediatric rapid response system implementation inclusive of a medical emergency team and an early warning score on critical deterioration, a proximate outcome defined as unplanned transfer to the intensive care unit with noninvasive or invasive mechanical ventilation or vasopressor infusion in the 12 hours after transfer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Quasi-experimental study with interrupted time series analysis using piecewise regression. At an urban, tertiary care childrens hospital in the United States, we evaluated 1810 unplanned transfers from the general medical and surgical wards to the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units that occurred during 370,504 non-intensive care patient-days between July 1, 2007, and May 31, 2012. INTERVENTIONS Implementation of a hospital-wide rapid response system inclusive of a medical emergency team and an early warning score in February 2010. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Rate of critical deterioration events, adjusted for season, ward, and case mix. RESULTS Rapid response system implementation was associated with a significant downward change in the preintervention trajectory of critical deterioration and a 62% net decrease relative to the preintervention trend (adjusted incidence rate ratio = 0.38; 95% CI, 0.20-0.75). We observed absolute reductions in ward cardiac arrests (from 0.03 to 0.01 per 1000 non-intensive care patient-days) and deaths during ward emergencies (from 0.01 to 0.00 per 1000 non-intensive care patient-days), but these were not statistically significant (P = .21 and P = .99, respectively). Among all unplanned transfers, critical deterioration was associated with a 4.97-fold increased risk of death (95% CI, 3.33-7.40; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Rapid response system implementation reversed an increasing trend of critical deterioration. Cardiac arrest and death were extremely rare at baseline, and their reductions were not statistically significant despite using nearly 5 years of data. Hospitals seeking to measure rapid response system performance may consider using valid proximate outcomes like critical deterioration in addition to rare, catastrophic outcomes.

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation for Bradycardia With Poor Perfusion Versus Pulseless Cardiac Arrest

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess whether pediatric inpatients who receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for bradycardia with poor perfusion are more likely to survive to hospital discharge than pediatric inpatients who receive CPR for pulseless arrest (asystole/pulseless electrical activity [PEA]), after controlling for confounding characteristics. METHODS: A prospective cohort from the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation was enrolled between January 4, 2000, and February 23, 2008. Patients who were younger than 18 years and had an in-hospital event that required chest compressions for >2 minutes were eligible. Patients were divided into 2 groups on the basis of initial rhythm and pulse state: bradycardia/poor perfusion and asystole/PEA. Patient characteristics, event characteristics, and clinical characteristics were analyzed as possible confounders. Univariate analysis between bradycardia and asystole/PEA patient groups was performed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine whether an initial state of bradycardia/poor perfusion was independently associated with survival to discharge. RESULTS: A total of 6288 patients who were younger than 18 years were reported; 3342 met all inclusion criteria. A total of 1853 (55%) patients received chest compressions for bradycardia/poor perfusion compared with 1489 (45%) for asystole/PEA. Overall, 755 (40.7%) of 1353 patients with bradycardia survived to hospital discharge, compared with 365 (24.5%) of 1489 patients with asystole/PEA. After controlling for known confounders, CPR for bradycardia with poor perfusion was associated with increased survival to hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric inpatients with chest compressions initiated for bradycardia and poor perfusion before onset of pulselessness were more likely to survive to discharge than pediatric inpatients with chest compressions initiated for asystole or PEA.

Association between exposure to nonactionable physiologic monitor alarms and response time in a children's hospital

BACKGROUND Alarm fatigue is reported to be a major threat to patient safety, yet little empirical data support its existence in the hospital. OBJECTIVE To determine if nurses exposed to high rates of nonactionable physiologic monitor alarms respond more slowly to subsequent alarms that could represent life-threatening conditions. DESIGN Observational study using video. SETTING Freestanding childrens hospital. PATIENTS Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients requiring inotropic support and/or mechanical ventilation, and medical ward patients. INTERVENTION None. MEASUREMENTS Actionable alarms were defined as correctly identifying physiologic status and warranting clinical intervention or consultation. We measured response time to alarms occurring while there were no clinicians in the patients room. We evaluated the association between the number of nonactionable alarms the patient had in the preceding 120 minutes (categorized as 0-29, 30-79, or 80+ alarms) and response time to subsequent alarms in the same patient using a log-rank test that accounts for within-nurse clustering. RESULTS We observed 36 nurses for 210 hours with 5070 alarms; 87.1% of PICU and 99.0% of ward clinical alarms were nonactionable. Kaplan-Meier plots showed incremental increases in response time as the number of nonactionable alarms in the preceding 120 minutes increased (log-rank test stratified by nurse P < 0.001 in PICU, P = 0.009 in the ward). CONCLUSIONS Most alarms were nonactionable, and response time increased as nonactionable alarm exposure increased. Alarm fatigue could explain these findings. Future studies should evaluate the simultaneous influence of workload and other factors that can impact response time.

Development of a Pragmatic Measure for Evaluating and Optimizing Rapid Response Systems

OBJECTIVES: Standard metrics for evaluating rapid response systems (RRSs) include cardiac and respiratory arrest rates. These events are rare in children; therefore, years of data are needed to evaluate the impact of RRSs with sufficient statistical power. We aimed to develop a valid, pragmatic measure for evaluating and optimizing RRSs over shorter periods of time. METHODS: We reviewed 724 medical emergency team and 56 code-blue team activations in a children’s hospital between February 2010 and February 2011. We defined events resulting in ICU transfer and noninvasive ventilation, intubation, or vasopressor infusion within 12 hours as “critical deterioration.” By using in-hospital mortality as the gold standard, we evaluated the test characteristics and validity of this proximate outcome metric compared with a national benchmark for cardiac and respiratory arrest rates, the Child Health Corporation of America Codes Outside the ICU Whole System Measure. RESULTS: Critical deterioration (1.52 per 1000 non-ICU patient-days) was more than eightfold more common than the Child Health Corporation of America measure of cardiac and respiratory arrests (0.18 per 1000 non-ICU patient-days) and was associated with >13-fold increased risk of in-hospital death. The critical deterioration metric demonstrated both criterion and construct validity. CONCLUSIONS: The critical deterioration rate is a valid, pragmatic proximate outcome associated with in-hospital mortality. It has great potential for complementing existing patient safety measures for evaluating RRS performance.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Medical Emergency Team in a Children’s Hospital

OBJECTIVES: Medical emergency teams (METs) can reduce adverse events in hospitalized children. We aimed to model the financial costs and benefits of operating an MET and determine the annual reduction in critical deterioration (CD) events required to offset MET costs. METHODS: We performed a single-center cohort study between July 1, 2007 and March 31, 2012 to determine the cost of CD events (unplanned transfers to the ICU with mechanical ventilation or vasopressors in the 12 hours after transfer) as compared with transfers to the ICU without CD. We then performed a cost-benefit analysis evaluating varying MET compositions and staffing models (freestanding or concurrent responsibilities) on the annual reduction in CD events needed to offset MET costs. RESULTS: Patients who had CD cost

Beyond statistical prediction: qualitative evaluation of the mechanisms by which pediatric early warning scores impact patient safety

99 773 (95% confidence interval,

Barriers to Calling for Urgent Assistance Despite a Comprehensive Pediatric Rapid Response System

69 431 to

Does change in thoracic impedance measured via defibrillator electrode pads accurately detect ventilation breaths in children

130 116; P < .001) more during their post-event hospital stay than transfers to the ICU that did not meet CD criteria. Annual MET operating costs ranged from

Video Analysis of Factors Associated With Response Time to Physiologic Monitor Alarms in a Children’s Hospital

287 145 for a nurse and respiratory therapist team with concurrent responsibilities to

Nutrition Assessment of the Critically Ill Child

2 358 112 for a nurse, respiratory therapist, and ICU attending physician freestanding team. In base-case analysis, a nurse, respiratory therapist, and ICU fellow team with concurrent responsibilities cost