Medical emergency teams: is there M.E.R.LT?

摘要

Many deaths, cardiac arrests, and unplanned intensive care unit (ICU) admissions are preceded by failure to recognize deteriorating vital signs or trigger intervention. Furthermore, survival following cardiovascular collapse is low, whereas early response likely improves survival. As such, in-hospital medical emergency teams (MET) were proposed. Physiologic triggers (see below) lead to their activation. The first multi-site prospective MET trial. Design: Cluster randomized-control trial of 23 Australian hospitals.