Breaches of pre-medical emergency team call criteria in an Australian hospital

Objectives and outcomes

To evaluate the 24hrs before medical emergency team (MET) calls to examine: 1) the frequency, nature, and timing of pre-MET criteria breaches; 2) differences in characteristics and outcomes between patients who did and didn't experience pre-MET breaches.

Design

Retrospective observational study November 2020–June 2021.

Setting

Tertiary referral Australian hospital.

Participants

Adults (≥18 years) experiencing MET calls.

Results

Breaches in pre-MET criteria occurred prior to 1886/2255 (83.6%) MET calls, and 1038/1281 (81.0%) of the first MET calls. Patients with pre-MET breaches were older (median [IQR] 72 [57–81] vs 66 [56–77] yrs), more likely to be admitted from home (87.8% vs 81.9%) and via the emergency department (73.0% vs 50.2%), but less likely to be for full resuscitation after (67.3% vs 76.5%) the MET. The three most common pre-MET breaches were low SpO₂ (48.0%), high pulse rate (39.8%), and low systolic blood pressure (29.0%) which were present for a median (IQR) of 15.4 (7.5–20.8), 13.2 (4.3–21.0), and 12.6 (3.5–20.1) hrs before the MET call, respectively. Patients with pre-MET breaches were more likely to need intensive care admission within 24 h (15.6 vs 11.9%), have repeat MET calls (33.3 vs 24.7%), and die in hospital (15.8 vs 9.9%).

Conclusions

Four-fifths of MET calls were preceded by pre-MET criteria breaches, which were present for many hours. Such patients were older, had more limits of treatment, and experienced worse outcomes. There is a need to improve goals of care documentation and pre-MET management of clinical deterioration.