ObjectiveTo explore the causes of failure to activate the rapid response system (RRS). The organisation has a recognised incidence of staff failing to act when confronted with a deteriorating patient and leading to adverse outcomes.DesignA multi-method study using the following: a point prevalence survey to determine the incidence of abnormal simple bedside observations and activation of the rapid response team by clinical staff; a prospective audit of all patients experiencing a cardiac arrest, unplanned intensive care unit admission or death over an 8-week period; structured interviews of staff to explore cognitive and sociocultural barriers to activating the RRS.SettingSouthern Health is a comprehensive healthcare network with 570 adult in-patient beds across four metropolitan teaching hospitals in the south-eastern sector of Melbourne.MeasurementsFrequency of physiological instability and outcomes within the in-patient hospital population. Qualitative data from staff interviews were thematically coded.ResultsThe incidence of physiological instability in the acute adult population was 4.04%. Nearly half of these patients (42%) did not receive an appropriate clinical response from the staff, despite most (69.2%) recognising their patient met physiological criteria for activating the RRS, and being ‘quite’, or ‘very’ concerned about their patient (75.8%). Structured interviews with 91 staff members identified predominantly sociocultural reasons for failure to activate the RRS.ConclusionsDespite an organisational commitment to the RRS, clinical staff act on local cultural rules within the clinical environment that are usually not explicit. Better understanding of these informal rules may lead to more appropriate activation of the RRS.

The rapid response system (RRS) is a patient safety initiative instituted to enable healthcare professionals to promptly access help when a patient's status deteriorates. Despite patients meeting the criteria, up to one-third of the RRS cases that should be activated are not called, constituting a "missed RRS call". Using a case study approach, 10 focus groups of senior and junior nurses and physicians across four hospitals in Australia were conducted to gain greater insight into the social, professional and cultural factors that mediate the usage of the RRS. Participants' experiences with the RRS were explored from an interprofessional and collective competence perspective. Health professionals' reasons for not activating the RRS included: distinct intraprofessional clinical decision-making pathways; a highly hierarchical pathway in nursing, and a more autonomous pathway in medicine; and interprofessional communication barriers between nursing and medicine when deciding to make and actually making a RRS call. Participants also characterized the RRS as a work-around tool that is utilized when health professionals encounter problematic interprofessional communication. The results can be conceptualized as a form of collective incompetence that have important implications for the design and implementation of interprofessional patient safety initiatives, such as the RRS.

The PAP will reduce preoperative length of stay. Utilization of a PAP also appears to reduce postoperative length of stay and may reduce postoperative complications. Further investigation is required to determine the exact nature and extent of these PAP benefits.

Objective: To determine if a general ward-based plan to address the deteriorating patient could improve RRS utilization over and above a mandatory organizational policy and procedure. Design: A two stage methodology: First, engagement with ward providers and users of the RRS to generate ward-based interventions; Second, measurement of the incidence of missed/delayed RRS calls, RRS calls, cardiac arrests and unplanned intensive care unit admission both prior to the intervention and 12 months post implementation. Setting: Monash Health is a comprehensive healthcare network with 570 adult in-patient beds across four metropolitan teaching hospitals in the south-eastern sector of Melbourne. Results:The interventions selected for intervention were: (1) a ward based agreement on how to best locally optimize management of the deteriorating patient,(2) an improved communication protocol, and (3) a revision of the education program for staff. Post intervention the aggregate rate of missed/delayed RRS calls reduced across all wards (1.05 to 0.34 per 1000 bed days, p = 0.049). This occurred without a change in the rate of RRS activation (7.98 per 1000 bed days pre-intervention versus 7.85 bed days post-intervention). The incidence of cardiac arrests or unplanned interventions did not change post intervention. Conclusions: Engagement of the users of a system like the RRS activation protocol can improve compliance rates with protocols when the users have ownership of the process.