Team effort boosts CUMC’s critical care

By Christine Giefer
Reporter

A plan that may save many lives rapidly makes its way to the Creighton University Medical Center.

Dr. Stephen Lanspa, senior vice president for Medical Affairs, said CUMC will have a Rapid Response System in place Monday.

The Academic Rapid Response Collaborative is a partnership between the University of Pittsburg Medical Center, the Delmarva Foundation and the Association of American Medical Colleges. The program received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is a national foundation based in New Jersey that strives to improve health care in America with grants.

Rapid Response, also called Medical Emergency Teams, uses teams to care for patients who become critically ill. Teams consist of professionals who provide immediate care for patients whose health becomes unstable.

Lanspa said protocols delivered by general “Code Teams” are straightforward but not very effective.

“The Rapid Response team is an attempt to better identify patients before they ‘code’ and to bring more team resources to the bedside in a rapid manner,” Lanspa said.

This concept has been around for several years but was introduced to CUMC last fall. Dr. Robert Dunely, a faculty member at the medical center, suggested that CUMC look into this program.

Although the teams vary among the 16 participating universities, CUMC’s team will consist of a respiratory therapist, an intensive care unit nurse and three selected residents.

Lanspa said it will be interesting to measure the outcomes of the system to determine whether Rapid Response teams make as much of a difference in a teaching hospital as in a community hospital.

Although the expectations are high, Lanspa said there are some concerns. One is that the special team designated to address patients might interfere with students’ learning. Still, Lanspa believes the top residents will have the opportunity to make a noticeable difference.

“I expect that the number of cardiac and respiratory arrests that typically occur in hospitals will be dropped significantly, by about 30 percent.”