Emergency Codes Outside of PICU

Dayton Children’s has implemented a Pediatric Rapid Response Team available 24 hours a day to evaluate a child in the general pediatric units if there is a concern the child’s condition is suddenly changing. The team, comprised of intensive care doctors, residents, nurses and respiratory therapists, responds within minutes, working with the beside staff to determine the best course of action, and if need be quickly move the child to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The objective of this team is to prevent emergency codes outside the PICU.

Members of the response team have had additional training in the management of critically ill children, and therefore can augment the general pediatric unit staff in determining if a child’s condition warrants more intensive monitoring. Research has shown that the use of such teams has saved lives by the early recognition and treatment of a child’s deteriorating condition.

To evaluate this quality initiative, we measure the number of cases per 1,000 non-ICU patient days when a patient required resuscitation. Our goal is to have 0 preventable codes outside the ICU.