First Advisor

Cullen, Patricia

Second Advisor

Coast, MaryJo

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

School

Loretto Heights School of Nursing

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

66 pages

Abstract

Rapid response system (RRS) is considered a powerful tool in patient safety (Simmes, et al., 2013). It is a process where critical care expertise is brought to the patient`s bedside. It is an initiative designed to prevent patient deaths and to improve patient outcomes (Institute of Healthcare Improvement, 2011). The practice issue is, at the medical-surgical floors at a large medical center in one hospitals of Northeastern New York, there is a failure to rescue on their medical-surgical patients secondary to issues concerning delays in activating the rapid response team and delays in recognizing patients` signs and symptoms of deterioration by the medical-surgical nurses. The purpose of this project is to determine if rapid response team (RRT) education will improve bedside nurses` knowledge and skills in activating the team as evidenced by an increase of RRT activation and to determine if RRT education will enhance bedside nurses` clinical decision making in activating the team. The main goal of this project is to provide an effective and timely response to patients` deterioration on the floors. The project` objectives are identified as increasing number of RRT activation by 50%, decreasing munber of patients transferring to the intensive care unit (ICU) by 10%, recognizing patients` conditions early, providing immediate patient intervention(s), and enhancing bedside nurses` clinical decision in activating the team.
This project was implemented through provision of a sixty-minute RRT education to the medical-surgical floor nurses covering RRT education obtained from IHI website, pre and post-tests surveys and statistical analysis. Survey showed mixed results – on analytical statistical analysis, RRT education showed negative correlation and no significance on the nurses` confidence level in activating the team. Meanwhile, pre and post-test results showed that RRT education increased the nurses` confidence level in activating the team.

Date of Award

Fall 2015

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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