Rapid Response Team for Families

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi all!

My director just informed us today that after the JCAHO inspection they're rolling out a new rapid response team whereby the family of a pt calls the rapid response if they feel they are not being listened to and their family member is decompensating. I know this is being used in a lot of facilities, I'm curious what your experiences have been - both positive and negative?

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.
I've read the responses belittling a family member's concern. But that brings another question into play. What is wrong with a nurse who cannot explain why a patient is smiling in her sleep or another one is drooling. When I worked, I frequently explained what I was doing and why to a family member, if the patient was unconscious. It helped relieve a lot of stress for the family. When I was high by a big rig and bought into a community hospitals ER, in critical condition, I later found out my daughter, who was in a nursing program, was not even given the simplest explanations of my injuries or what was being done to me and why.

Last July, I was transported to another community hospital, in septic shock, with acute renal failure, a K of 15, acute gastritis and pneumonia. The ER doctor and nurse, took the time to explain what they had found, what they were planning on doing and what they had done. I spent twenty one days in ICU and whenever my daughter came in, my nurse would explain what had transpired over the previous twenty-four hours, what I had undergone and why and my present state. My daughter was impressed with the knowledge of the nurses and their care and attention for both me and her. And unlike the previous seventeen episode, she didn't have to call my old boss for an explanation.

Families can be a pain. Families can be unreasonable. Families can be demanding. But I found when I worked, all they really wanted was to know what was happening to their love one. And that someone else cared about the outcome. Most of the time, families are demanding because they are generally viewed as a pain by the staff. And if you think you can hide your attitude, think again. And I am willing to bet the farm on this, that most nurses do not want a family member anywhere near a patient when they are circling the drain or in a CODE. And despite studies that have shown that when an individual is appointed to accompany a family member and explain what is happening, the family is much calmer and doesn't get in the way.

Woody:balloons:

umm yeah, I would think a K of 15 would get you a ride in the meat wagon and then on to the funeral home.

Also nurses are perfectly capable of explaining family concerns. The concern is that families will call rapid response for little things because they don't understand them, and they will do so before they ask the primary nurse.

Sweetooth

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Show me some research!

"I was saved by patient-intitiated RRT" or "My husband/wife/son/daugther/aunt/uncle/pet could have been saved if I could have called somebody" is all well and good. Unfortunately, the plural of anecdote is not data.

My practice turns on evidence, not catch phrases or feel-good marketing programs.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.
Show me some research!

"I was saved by patient-intitiated RRT" or "My husband/wife/son/daugther/aunt/uncle/pet could have been saved if I could have called somebody" is all well and good. Unfortunately, the plural of anecdote is not data.

My practice turns on evidence, not catch phrases or feel-good marketing programs.

If you care to go so far as to get the PBS documentary I mentioned, you will find hard data and statistics regarding hospitals with RRTs vs. those without.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
umm yeah, I would think a K of 15 would get you a ride in the meat wagon and then on to the funeral home.

Also nurses are perfectly capable of explaining family concerns. The concern is that families will call rapid response for little things because they don't understand them, and they will do so before they ask the primary nurse.

Sweetooth

Sweettooth, I could take a vacation in Hawaii for three weeks, if I had a dollar for everytime I've heard that excuse. The families will not come to us, they will just call the RRTF. Every stop to wonder why the family will not approach the primary nurse?

Woody:balloons:

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We have this at our hospital but rapid response is called by the nurse. They have been nothing but helpful, basically they are there for a helping hand and a second set of eyes. I think we as nurses need to look at is as a help to taking better care of our patients instead of them being there to try to step on our toes or to over shadow us. I know when a pt is crashing its better to have help then to be left to deal with it yourself.

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Sweettooth, I could take a vacation in Hawaii for three weeks, if I had a dollar for everytime I've heard that excuse. The families will not come to us, they will just call the RRTF. Every stop to wonder why the family will not approach the primary nurse?

Woody:balloons:

Woody--read my first post. I talked with my husbands nurses, pointed out his going downhill, complained about my concerns when my husband was in the hospital, discussed it with his MD and was told "You are making him not trust his caregivers." He died. If I could have called a RRT and had an independent assessment of his condition and my concerns addressed, he would still be alive.

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There was a documentary on PBS called Remaking American Medicine that examined RRTs and the family being able to initiate it, among other topics.

My first thought watching this was 'you've got to be kidding, ignorant families will abuse this.' That's what the nurses who were interviewed said they thought. Turns out, they said abuses of the system turned out to be rare.

Were the families initiating a true RRT or one as described in the link above?

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If you care to go so far as to get the PBS documentary I mentioned, you will find hard data and statistics regarding hospitals with RRTs vs. those without.

Yes, RRTs do save lives and prevent codes. But is there data on ones as linked above?

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http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag_app/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMAG/Article/data/02FEB2007/0702HHN_Online_Spath&domain=HHNMAG

I found this article online. I would suspect it's too soon to have "hard data" on the pros and cons of these particular programs.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Emmanuel,

From what I remember about this documentary, yes, families have the ability to call a RRT just as nurses do. I remember watching the documentary and hearing statistics of deaths in hospitals with this program and without. Beyond that, I don't remember.

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Emmanuel,

From what I remember about this documentary, yes, families have the ability to call a RRT just as nurses do. I remember hearing statistics of deaths in hospitals with this program and without. Beyond that, I don't remember.

Ok. Thanks.

In that article I think only one is a true RRT. I'd like to see the PBS show, though.

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I saw it. I even have some familiarity with the events related in it. I'm just not convinced that a family-intiated RRT response does any good. All the examples given would have been just as well served (if not better) by a well-trained, assertive, astute nurse, who's not overtasked. [it also helps to keep an eye on toddlers and not set your hot water heater to "max".]

Unfortunately, good training and safe staffing costs money. Physicians and administrators are not big fans of assertive nurses. And "empowering" the family sounds pretty good in an ad.

Sadly, we're not "empowering" them, we're abdicating our duty to them in a time of need.

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