The effect of a staged, emergency department specific rapid response system on reporting of clinical deterioration.

Rapid response systems, though controversial, have been widely implemented in acute care settings, but not emergency departments. In this pre-post study, rapid response implementation in an emergency department was associated with improved recognition of clinical deterioration, but investigators were not able to detect changes in patient outcomes. With these results, the data on rapid response systems remains inconclusive and suggests the need for more robust post-implementation data on effectiveness and costs.