The objective medical emergency team activation criteria: A case-control study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of pre-defined clinical criteria to identify patients who subsequently suffer cardiac arrest, unplanned intensive care unit admission or unexpected death; to determine the ability of modified criteria to identify these patients. DESIGN: Nested, matched case-control study. SETTING: Seven Australian public hospitals. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred and fifty cases and 520 controls matched for age, sex, hospital, and hospital ward. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Highest and lowest respiratory and heart rates, lowest systolic blood pressure, presence of threatened airway, seizures or decrease in Glasgow Coma Scale score of greater than t..