Rapid Response?

/username, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2018

Some hospitals have this as a dedicated role, however, most places have it structured to be a nurse from another unit (possibly part of the code team, maybe one of the ICU charge nurses, etc...)

Pheebz777, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2018

As long as you have strong critical thinking skills and well versed in ACLS, you should be fine. In most hospitals I've worked, it's usually the ICU charge nurse who is also the RRT nurse. There have been times when there would be multiple RRTs occurring at the same time, or a Code Blue happening on top of an RRT in the building and usually another strong ICU nurse would attend to those other RRTs. Many PROs, can't think of any Cons. It's basically "troubleshooting" and facilitating in providing the appropriate care/transfer.

TinkerBellaRN · Feb 15, 2018

Thanks for your input!

Lennonninja, MSN, APRN, NP · Feb 20, 2018

I work as rapid response when I was in the ICU. It was a separate role, but the ICU charge nurse was the back up rapid if there was more than one happening at once. I also worked as ICU charge. I absolutely LOVED this role! I enjoyed a lot of autonomy and bringing education to the nurses when working with their patients. The downside - everyone in the hospital (it felt like) would call rapid for IVs, even if they hadn't even tried a single time. Lab even started calling rapid to do lab sticks instead of sending a phlebotomist at times. This was really annoying.

AceOfHearts<3 · Feb 22, 2018

A nurse in my ICU is assigned as the rapid response nurse and the code blue nurse. It's a nurse that starts the day with only 1 patient and will take the new patient if they come to ICU. If they respond and the patient comes to the ICU another nurse who is open for an admission then takes over as the RR/code blue nurse. One of the nurses from the other ICU also responds, but the patients pretty much always come to my ICU if they are transferred to a higher level of care. I enjoy it when I'm assigned the role.

murseman24, MSN, CRNA · Sep 6, 2018

I loved rapid response. We had a couple pages of meds and tests we could order without getting an okay with one of the docs. You go in and save the day and then get the hell out. No running like crazy getting meds on time and q2hr turns and dealing with family. We had the ICU doc on speed dial if the pt. was crashing, and you basically just keep them afloat until they get there if it's that bad. Most of the time it was chest pain or something and you just do some troubleshooting and order some labs/tests, and make sure it's nothing acutely life threatening. I ordered a chest X-ray on a dyspneic pt. who ended up with a significant simple pneumothorax. She had been complaining about chest pain and dyspnea for days. It's nice when you can actually make a difference.