Rapid response Team (RRT) is founded on the concept of “failure to rescue” or ability to recognize early signs and symptoms of deterioration in a patient’s condition to prevent a severe “adverse event”.Adverse event may be defined as an unintended injury that is due in part to delayed or incorrect medical management and that exposes the patient to an increased risk of death and results in

measurable disability.

Definition RRT:Also termed a medical emergency team, is a multidisciplinary team of healthcare providers who bring critical care level skills to a patient's bedside in an attempt to avoid further clinical deterioration and/or cardiopulmonary arrests and codes.

• Rapid Response systems aim to improve the safety of hospital-ward patients whose condition is deteriorating.

• These systems are based on identification of patients at risk early notification of an identified set of responders , rapid intervention by the response team .

Rapid-Response TeamsDaryl A. Jones, M.D., M.B., B.S., Michael A. DeVita, M.D., and Rinaldo Bellomo, M.D., M.B., B.S.N Engl J Med 2011; 365:139-146July 14, 2011DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra0910926 (NEJM 2011)

RRT consist of the following staff positions:Senior resident Intensive care Registered nurse Respiratory therapist.

50 % reduction in the occurrence of cardiac arrest outside the ICU.

• 17 % decrease in the incidence of cardiopulmonary arrest .

Decrease in the number of unnecessary transfers to a higher level of care by a mean 30%.

Arrest is frequently preceded by a clinical deterioration involving either respiratory or mental function. These features and the high mortality associated with arrest suggest that efforts to predict and prevent arrest might prove beneficial.

The RRT may be called for physiological changes in heart rate , systolic blood pressure , respiratory rate , pulse oximetry saturation , mental status or urinary output . Changes in laboratory values could also indicate a patients condition is deteriorating, the nurse may also call the RRT because of a gut feeling that all is not right. Some hospital have pioneered the use “Early Warning Scoring Systems "to more reliably identify patients in trouble and trigger the appropriate often lifesaving response.