• S G Russo, C Eich, M Roessler, B M Graf, M Quintel, and A Timmermann.
• Zentrum Anaesthesiologie, Rettungs- und Intensivmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, 37075 Göttingen, Deutschland. srusso@zari.de
• Anaesthesist. 2008 Jan 1; 57 (1): 70-80.

AbstractSevere clinical incidents occur in up to 10% of all non-intensive care unit (ICU) patients, which have an estimated mortality of 5-8%. As in the prehospital setting, early clinical warning signs can be identified in the majority of cases. Studies suggest that introduction of an in-hospital medical emergency team (MET) which responds to objective criteria of physiological deterioration, may effectively reduce the incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrests as well as unanticipated or readmissions to the ICU. According to this concept, METs would evaluate and treat non-ICU patients at risk at an early stage before a potentially fatal deterioration of cardiorespiratory parameters occurs. This article reviews available data on preventive in-hospital intensive care medicine and reflects on the circumstances for an implementation of METs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

24 keywords...

hide…