Oral Abstract O44 REDUCING CARDIAC ARREST: INTRODUCTION OF MEDICAL EMERGENCY TEAM IN OUR TRUST
Conference theme: Excellence in Practice Author R. Anslow1, K Sheppard1 1 Dudley Group of Hospitals Background When the NICE Guidance on ‘Acutely ill patients in hospital’ was published, the Trust already had in place a Cardiac Arrest Team, and an Outreach service which covered 7 days a week but only 10 hours a day. What changes could we make to implement the Guidelines. Objective To improve the early recognition of patients who became acutely ill, and to reduce the number of patients who have cardiac arrest. Project A multi-disciplinary project team was set-up and three main strategies were taken; a change of Cardiac Arrest Team to Medical Emergency Team (M.E.T.) which included both senior medical and nursing staff; 24/7 Critical Care Outreach cover and alteration of the observation chart to colour coded system with red banding (trigger) requiring calling the M.E.T. Results Increase in M.E.T. calls, but reduction in Cardiac Arrests by 30% on previous years since commencing the changes. Discussion What further advances are needed to reduce the numbers further. Reference Information National Institute for Health and Excellence (2007) Acutely ill patients in hospital.NICE clinical guideline 50. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
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Oral Abstracts