Rapid Response Team for Families

Nurses General Nursing

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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?

as a nurse i am not sure how this would work-but I wish they would have had it at the hospital where my sister in law had her hysterectomy.the night of surgery -no urine output-bp 70's systolic.she had a known heart problem.I would have called an rrt that night but I trusted the nurses/ doctors at this well known instituition.she should have been in ccu.3 days later she died"bled to death".knowing what i know now I should have called and demanded to talk to the house supervisor-as i had called 2 night in a row to see what her hgb was and was told by the nurse"i don't know" and someone has her chart.I was her hcpoa. to this day I feel if she had had her surgery at my hospital she might still be alive

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
as a nurse i am not sure how this would work-but I wish they would have had it at the hospital where my sister in law had her hysterectomy.the night of surgery -no urine output-bp 70's systolic.she had a known heart problem.I would have called an rrt that night but I trusted the nurses/ doctors at this well known instituition.she should have been in ccu.3 days later she died"bled to death".knowing what i know now I should have called and demanded to talk to the house supervisor-as i had called 2 night in a row to see what her hgb was and was told by the nurse"i don't know" and someone has her chart.I was her hcpoa. to this day I feel if she had had her surgery at my hospital she might still be alive

Are you sure you are not beating yourself up for not calling or doing something? You were there as a family memeber. Did anyone else question your SIL status, from your family. I am truly sorry about what happen to her and all of you. But where was the nursing staff? Why weren't they doing their job? What about her surgeon? Didn't he question her negative urine outpu and her very low blood pressure. I think you have more then a bone to pick with the hosdpital and it's staff. I think you need to encourage your brother to see an attorney. And the attorney should request a copy of her complete chart.

Woody:balloons:

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Are you sure you are not beating yourself up for not calling or doing something? You were there as a family memeber. Did anyone else question your SIL status, from your family. I am truly sorry about what happen to her and all of you. But where was the nursing staff? Why weren't they doing their job? What about her surgeon? Didn't he question her negative urine outpu and her very low blood pressure. I think you have more then a bone to pick with the hosdpital and it's staff. I think you need to encourage your brother to see an attorney. And the attorney should request a copy of her complete chart.

Woody:balloons:

Having an attorney is not the way to prevent medical malpractice. Requiring health care providers and hospitals to report to the appropriate board errors/incidents that cause pt harm or death is a better way, as are Rapid Response Teams. Only when incidents are made public and reviewed can solutions be applied to prevent the same error being made over and over.

Yes, I also trusted the MD's/staff to take care of my husband-he died. I pointed out his declining state to no avail. I feel for you, Flexnurse. Dejavue.

Everyone thinks that it is easy to find a malpractice attorney and have them review the chart. Let me tell you the facts from the states that have malpractice caps. First, they interview the family to see how much money the deceased has made in the previous 5 yrs. An attorney is not going to accept as a client anyone who makes under $100,000 a yr. Plain and simple. They expect to get 33% of the future wages and anything under that does not cover the costs of the case. Lets say someone is awarded $250,000 for pain and suffering as the max allowed by state law. Then you take $50,000 year times 10 years equals $500,000 for wages. Subtract from this the amount the family will get under social security survivors benefits of about $25,000 a yr times 10 yrs. as juries are allowed to do this. Then subtract the cost of expert witnesses-say a neuro surgeon at $10,000 a day plus airfare, meals and hotel (and they don't stay at motel 6) times a few expert witness. This totals to almost $150,000. Then subtract court costs of about $50,000, then the attorney fee of $130,000. Then see what the family gets. Out of a $500,000 settlement, the family will be lucky to see 30% of it.Then, just when the family thinks they are in the clear, the IRS hits them up for a little known law that requires them to pay taxes on the projected wages.

So the average working joe will not be able to find an attorney to represent the family, no matter how blatant the error is. How about the "mega" awards? This is awarded to the family of a pt. to cover nursing care and medical expenses of someone in a vegetative state. Think health insurance will cover this? Nope--if you have a malpractice award that includes health related expenses, MD/hospitals will apply liens to the settlement for payment as the health ins is not obligated to pay.

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I'm sorry but this is a crock. This is just another knee-jerk, stop-gap measure to put a bandaid on a problem instead of identifying the root cause and fixing the problems. What problems? The problem that hospitals refuse to provide an appropriate number of staff. The problem of hospitals cutting the education budget and dumping nurses out on the floor without ensuring they know what they are doing. The problem of cutting back ancillary staff so that the nurses have to clean beds, take out trash, fix food, and do things that have nothing to do with what they were trained to do. The problem of nursing schools spitting out new grads who have so little actual clinical time that they have never even put in a foley or an IV in an actual patient. But man, do those nursing students learn all about management and writing care plans. The problem that the working environment is so toxic that hundreds of nurses every year quit working as nurses to keep their sanity, thus contributing to the LIE called the Nursing Shortage. There is no shortage of nurses in the US. There is only a shortage of nurses willing to be treated like crap day in and day out by peers, patients, and employers. The problem with an overload of documentation to be accomplished each shift. And why is there an overload of documentation to do? That again was another JCAHO/CMS bandaid to make the public think that we are doing all these wonderful things for every patient - yet the documentation actually takes time away from direct patient care and many nurses simply put the checks in the boxes on that long list of items without every actually doing those 50 things each shift.

I can see where all these people who have had poor outcomes in hospitals think that this is a wonderful thing. But nobody is realizing that perhaps the nurse wouldn't be in such a pissy mood and would be happy to explain things for the umpteenth time if the root cause of the problem were to be fixed. And if the nurse were properly trained, in addition to not being overloaded with patients, the nurse would catch any change in condition long before a RRT would need to be called. Thus, no need for RRTs . Imagine - we'd actually be preventing complications instead of trying to play catch up later on. There's a novel concept in healthcare today - prevention!!!!!

So excuse me while I go vomit at the thought of yet another bunch of JCAHO baloney that I'm going to have to put up with because I have yet to find an employer that will get their heads out of their rears and fix the real cause for all the problems.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Having an attorney is not the way to prevent medical malpractice.......... MD/hospitals will apply liens to the settlement for payment as the health ins is not obligated to pay.

No, I know just how difficult it is to find a malpractice attorney to take a case, I have worked as an expert witness for several. And reviewed charts for the viability of filing a suit. I do not live in a state that has a cap on punitive damages but I am assuming you do, given your take on them.

As for hospitals and doctors applying liens for service not paid by health insurance companies, it depends on the amount of the award. I sued an individual after spending several weeks in the hospital. My health insurance company paid the remaining balance. They also put a lien on me. I got an award but it was such that the hospital decided that the negative newspaper stories were not worth taking any of my award. It is amazing what your attorney can do when he tells their attorney what actions he plans to take with the press.

A complaint can be made to the BON and the BOM. The BON will most likely make the nurses pay a fine and get some continuing education. The BOM, they will most likely do nothing. But a complaint should be made to both. Who knows, I might be surprised.

Woody:balloons:

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