Rapid Response Teams

A Rapid Response Team, RRT, also referred to as a Medical Emergency Team, is a skilled team of emergency medical professionals designed to respond to bed-side emergency calls with immediate solutions to various traumatic situations, including cardiac arrest. First implemented in Australian hospitals and now emerging in hospitals across the United States, this new system was specifically designed to monitor patients and address potential problems before the patient goes into cardiac arrest. Without such teams in place, the risk of cardiac arrest is 65% higher than with a RRT, the number of deaths during or after a cardiac arrest is 56% higher than with RRT, and the number of days a cardiac arrest patient stays in the hospital is 88% higher than with a RRT. 

RRT are commonly called in to treat patients going into cardiac arrest, thereby making the use of intraosseos infusion a viable and effective option for administration of drugs and fluids. 

1 Bellomo R, Goldsmith D, Uchino S, et al.
A prospective before-and-after trial of a medical emergency team.
Medical Journal of Australia. 2003;179(6):283-287.