Impact of a Communication and Team-working Intervention on Performance and Effectiveness of a Medical Emergency Team

NCT01551160 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: RPC1001
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 1,500
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Patients in hospital can have unexpected clinical emergencies. When this occurs the Medical Emergency Team (MET) are called with the intention of resolving the problem. Previous investigations have found that patients who have more than one call during their admission have worse outcomes than patients who only have one call. But it has not been established why. The aim of this research will be to examine these repeated calls and why patients subject to them go on to have worse outcomes. A predictive model will be developed to identify potential sources of risk. One potential source is poor communication between health care providers. An intervention to improve communication around MET calls may provide benefit to patients and improve outcomes.

Conditions

Hospital Rapid Response Team

Keywords

Non-technical skills; Crisis resource management; Medical Emergency Team; Rapid Response Team

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Multiple Medical Emergency Team calls per patient admission

  Measured at time of hospital discharge

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Mortality

  At time of hospital discharge

• Mortality

  At completion of Medical Emergency Team call

• ICU admission rate

  At completion of Medical Emergency Team call

• ICU interventions

  At completion of Medical Emergency Team call

Other Outcomes (1)

• Perceptions of Interactions between Medical Emergency Team staff and patient care teams

  1 year

Study Arms (1)

Medical Emergency Team

EXPERIMENTAL

A communication and team-working initiative

Other: A communication and team-working intervention

Interventions

A communication and team-working intervention OTHER

Medical Emergency Team (MET) briefings and formalised handover between MET staff and patient care teams

Medical Emergency Team

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may not qualify if:

• Cancellation of the MET response prior to, or on arrival at, the location of activation
• Calls to patients \< 18 years of age

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Lyell McEwin Hospital: lead
• University of Adelaide: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Lyell McEwin Hospital

Elizabeth Vale, South Australia, 5112, Australia

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Chalwin RP, Flabouris A. Utility and assessment of non-technical skills for rapid response systems and medical emergency teams. Intern Med J. 2013 Sep;43(9):962-9. doi: 10.1111/imj.12172.

  PMID: 23611153 BACKGROUND

• Chalwin R, Giles L, Salter A, Kapitola K, Karnon J. Re-designing a rapid response system: effect on staff experiences and perceptions of rapid response team calls. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020 May 29;20(1):480. doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05260-z.

  PMID: 32471422 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Richard Chalwin, FCICM

  Lyell McEwin Hospital

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER GOV
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 4, 2012
• First Posted: March 12, 2012
• Study Start: July 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2016
• Study Completion: September 1, 2016
• Last Updated: November 25, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

AU (1)