Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 107, Issue 5 , Pages 396-403, May 2008

Incidence and Significance of Clinically Abnormal Events in a Tertiary Referral Medical Center: Implementation of the Clinical Alert System (CAS)

  • Jih-Shuin Jerng

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Wen-Je Ko

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Frank Leigh Lu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Yih-Sharng Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Szu-Fen Huang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Chong-Jen Yu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ming-Jiuh Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Ming-Jiuh Wang, Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei 100, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Fang-Yue Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

Received 26 December 2007; accepted 15 January 2008.

Revised: September 1, 2007

Article Outline

Background

The prognosis of in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest remains very poor. Reports have shown patients often have clinically abnormal events prior to arrest. To improve patient outcome and prevent arrest, detection of the abnormal events with early intervention has been advocated. However, the incidence of these events in Taiwan and their clinical significance remain unclear.

Methods

We conducted a prospective observational study with the implementation of the clinical alert system (CAS) in a university-affiliated tertiary referral medical center. Clinically abnormal events were detected using the CAS criteria for acute physiologic deterioration, and reported to experienced physicians for management. Patient and report data were retrieved, collected and analyzed.

Results

During the 14-month study period, a total of 2050 events were detected in 1640 patients. The estimated incidence of the events was 3.19 per 1000 bed-days, which occurred in 2.14% of admissions. The most common event was abnormal heart rate (36.5%), followed by desaturation (26.7%), abnormal respiratory rate (24.5%), and abnormal blood pressure (23.1%). The majority of the events were reported in the day time, and nurses contributed most of the reports (66.4%). The 30-day and in-hospital mortality rates were 26.3% and 34%, respectively. Multivariate survival analysis showed that desaturation (relative risk [RR] = 1.715; p < 0.001), abnormal respiratory rate (RR = 1.652; p < 0.001), abnormal blood pressure (RR = 1.460; p = 0.001), coma (RR = 1.918; p < 0.001), and oliguria (RR = 1.424; p = 0.0024) were significantly associated with 30-day mortality. Mortality of patients in the last 2 months was significantly lower than that in the first 2 months (20.5% vs. 35.4%; p < 0.001), which suggests the effectiveness of the CAS.

Conclusion

The development of clinically abnormal events is associated with poor outcome, which suggests that early detection and timely management of these events is necessary. Implementation of the CAS may improve the in-hospital outcome of these patients.

Key Words:  cardiopulmonary arrest , medical emergency team , rapid response system , resuscitation

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PII: S0929-6646(08)60105-9

doi:10.1016/S0929-6646(08)60105-9

Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
Volume 107, Issue 5 , Pages 396-403, May 2008

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