Q My hospital is starting a rapid response team (RRT). What are the key components of the team and how does it differ from a code team?

A Maureen A. Seckel, RN, MSN, APRN, BC, CCRN, and Kathleen Johnson, RN, MSN, CNA, BC, reply:

Critical care nurses have always been involved in the cutting edge of healthcare and patient safety. Many institutions have had programs that blur the borders of the intensive care unit (ICU) walls to bring critical care to the patient instead of waiting until the patient is admitted to the ICU.1 Our critical care colleagues in Australia and Europe have reported an important patient safety approach to prevent deaths in patients who are progressively failing outside the ICU, called the medical emergency team (MET).2,3 The MET is synonymous in the literature with the RRT. The RRT is designed to assist in the care...

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