Reduction of hospital mortality and of preventable cardiac arrest and death on introduction of a pediatric medical emergency team

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of a medical emergency team (MET) on the incidence of unexpected cardiac arrest and death. DESIGN: Comparison of retrospective data (pre-MET) before introduction of MET with prospective data after introduction of MET system (post-MET). SETTING: Tertiary care pediatric hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 104,780 admissions during a 41-month period pre-MET; 138,424 admissions during 48 months post-MET. INTERVENTIONS: Introduction of a MET. RESULTS: Total hospital deaths decreased from 4.38 to 2.87/ 1000 admissions (risk ratio 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57-0.75, p < 0.0001). Ward unexpected death decreased from 13 (0.12/1000) to 6 (0.04/1000) (risk ratio ..