Abstract

In 2008, facilities were encouraged to develop an emergency response system. A system in which nurses could activate a team of specialists directed to the bedside of a patient with a deteriorating condition. Despite this initiative, nurses and hospital staff have failed to recognize deterioration and correctly activate a rapid response. The clinical problem: Nurses are failing to recognize patient deterioration and activate a rapid response. The practice question was, what will increase rapid response activations? This DNP Project focused on increasing the identification of patient deterioration and activation of the rapid response team. A systematic review of the literature, a critical analysis of the yielded studies, and the fit and feasibility of the facility revealed that the most appropriate intervention was a one-hour education on detecting deterioration followed by unfolding case studies. A quiz was given to the nurses as a pre-and post-education evaluation. The facility continued to collect data for six months post-intervention. The evaluation revealed a 28% increase in the quiz scores, a 28.5% increase in Rapid Response activations, and a 28.7% decrease in Code Blue activations. This project intervention has significantly impacted patient care in the host facility. Sustainability recommendations to the facility are to educate staff by having them review the recorded education and provide flyers of the activation criteria to staff, patients, and visitors. Carry out "mock" Rapid Response activations with staff quarterly.

Date of publication

5-2024

Document Type

DNP Scholarly Project

Language

english

Persistent identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10950/4707

Committee members

Dr. Gina Nickels-Nelson

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Available for download on Friday, May 22, 2026

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