[wino73]

Is your Rapid Response Nurse out of the count and available for all calls? We were told this is the standard out there, however will be activating family response and have concerns about the amount of calls that will pull the RRN away from her patient.
Just wondering what the standard really is.

[gradcare]

Have worked with 2 systems. 1 where the MET (RRN) nurse was included in the count but floating (no allocation). And the other where the Nurse had a case load. Response times didn't really differ what did was that the RRN with no case load could take over the care of the patient if it required transfere to the critical care area. Also they did not have their own caseload going to pot while they were away.

Better for all if RRN has no caseload but try convinving the bean counters of that!!!

[pinkeyICU]

in my experience usually 2 nurses go on RRT....One hospital that I worked at had a hospitalist (MD) who always showed up too, which was nice. But, more to the point: one hospital I worked at the first admit was automatically code/RRT nurse. That kind of worked 'cuz if I'm admitable I only have 1 pt and if I'm getting a wreck from the floor, I'd like to be the one responding up there to see whats what. At my current place of employment, the charge RN does not take pts (except as last resort) and she/he is RRT/code #1. Someone else always tags along and it usually ends up being the nurse who figures she/he is going to get the pt if it comes to ICU anyways.
One place I worked did not assign at the beginning of the shift and we all just figured it out when the call came....whoever had a light load or was at a stopping point, whatever....then admin came up with the policy that at the time of code we were to say QUOTE: It is a code blue/Rapid Response. Who is Going? Are You Going? end quote. We all had a ton of fun parroting the memo but basically kept deciding the way we had in the past.
BTW: Any extras out there for Rapid Response Team members? One hospital gave sweatshirts after so many times on the team....my current hospital says "a nurse is a nurse is a nurse" so no recognition for RRT skills/volunteering. Wondering what others do.

[wino73]

We do get recognized for RRT. We are careful in who we chose to do RRT min 2 yrs in ICU, CCRN prefered, and acts professionally while at work and must not be in any discipline. We all have polo shirts and each quarter we have a drawing first prize is $1200 to attend outside conference, 2nd is palm pilot, and 3rd is $300 to apply toward nursing subscription or membership.

[pinkeyICU]

Originally Posted by wino73

We do get recognized for RRT. We are careful in who we chose to do RRT min 2 yrs in ICU, CCRN prefered, and acts professionally while at work and must not be in any discipline. We all have polo shirts and each quarter we have a drawing first prize is $1200 to attend outside conference, 2nd is palm pilot, and 3rd is $300 to apply toward nursing subscription or membership.

Two places I've worked you have to respond to RRT calls w/no training & no minimum experience requirements. When I was a newbie nurse I was told to go on a call and said "shouldn't you send a real nurse?" Was very uncomfortable responding to calls w/a tacklebox full of meds, some forms & little else. Thank God my 1st one turned out to be low blood sugar! The nurses on the floor looked at me like an expert and they probably all had been nurses for longer than I. Now that I have a little more experience, I'm wise enough to refuse to do things alone that I haven't been trained for. I think the idea of recognizing the extra effort put in by RRT members can go a long way toward nurse job satisfaction....also to have specific members so you know those on the team WANT to do it, feel comfortable, and will be better RRT nurses. If the floor nurses look to the RRT team members as "experts" I think we'd better make sure we are!

[blueheaven]

We just started our RRT. Our unit is the pilot unit (MICU) since 99.9% of the stuff that happens on the units is medically related. The RRT nurse is "the charge nurse" on the day he or she is assigned and he or she does NOT have a patient assignment. I hope the RRT lessens the recidivism rate to the MICU!

[RNREMT-P]

RRT is usually the charge nurse who (hopefully) doesn't have a patient assignment. Most days whoever carries the pager has at least one patient and everyone covers their patients if the pager goes off.
It's assigned at overview with each shift change. I don't really know what the criteria are for carrying the pager because some haven't ever been assigned to it. We have a 3-ring binder which holds a set of standing orders that encompass the nature of most RRT calls. They basically follow ACLS guidelines and common sense. Of course it's abused sometimes, for example the pager will go off, you respond to a stepdown floor to assist someone onto a bedside commode. Fortunately, there's a place on our tracking form for instances like that and the people who initiate those requests usually only do it ONCE.

[wino73]

Don't you have a regular Supervisor or Charge nurse on your shift or do the bedside staff act as CN? How is your management tiered?