Pediatric Rapid Response System: An Exploration of Team Members’ Perceptions

Background: Complex modern healthcare systems create challenges with medical communication and coordination. Serious adverse events are known to occur as a result of inadequate communication. Emergency code and rapid response teams provide care for critical decompensations of patients and bridge communication gaps. Qualitative reviews of the emergency teams may improve healthcare communication and patient safety. Methods: A cross sectional web-based survey study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of the rapid response (RR) personnel about the RR system in our institution. The survey investigated four domains: 1) Clinician experience and knowledge, 2) System deficiencies, 3) Team performance and 4) Opportunity for feedback. Respondents were blinded to the investigator and answered Likert Scale and free text questions. Results: Eighty-five RR members from our institution [nurses (RN), respiratory therapists (RT) and critical care fellows (MD)] were electronically queried. The response rate was 77.6% with no significant difference among the three groups of respondents. Majority of responders had more than three years of clinical and RR experience. RNs and MDs reported equipment inadequacies more than RTs (p=0.026). MDs reported information paucity more than RNs and RTs (p=0.001). Responders also reported deficiency of timely availability of pharmacy staff. Team performance was overall satisfactory, with family update rated the highest and staff education the lowest. Feedback process was deemed adequate. Conclusion: A survey of RR team members can help to identify perceived system and personnel deficiencies and provide valuable knowledge to direct performance improvement endeavors.