The medical emergency team: does it reallymake a difference?

Hospital systems are failing the critically ill. This has been welldocumented in many countries around the world, with detailed reportsof suboptimal care prior to intensive care and high rates of seriousadverse events, including death. These events are potentially preventable,but insufficient attention has been directed towards developing solutionsto these important problems to date. The medical emergency team (MET) is a system approach that promotesearly and appropriate inter-vention in the care of criticallyill hospital patients. The benefits of the MET in terms of absolutein-patient -mortality and cardiac arrest rates are notyet well-defined, although preliminary studies are promising. The MET does provide a potentially beneficial impact on manyother aspects of patient care. These benefits include: (i) facilitatingan integrated and coordinated approach to patient care across thehospital, (ii) increasing awareness of at-risk patients,(iii) encouraging early referral of seriously ill patientsto clinicians with expertise in critical care and (iv) providinga foundation for quality initiatives for hospital-wide care of theseriously ill. The MET also empowers nursing staff and junior medical staffto call for immediate assistance in cases where they are seriouslyconcerned about a patient, but may not have the experience, knowledge,confidence or skills necessary to manage them appropriately.