Educational Interventions for Rapid Response Team Members: A Narrative Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Research continues to be conducted on rapid response systems as patient outcomes associated with rapid response team activations are still not consistently showing benefit. One particular area of focus that is a growing area is the literature regarding training and education for individual team members of the rapid response team.

Objective: The purpose of this narrative review was to describe the current literature regarding educational interventions for rapid response team members.

Methods: This review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. To be included in the narrative review, studies needed to be reporting on educational interventional research for rapid response team members of the efferent limb. No studies were excluded based upon study design or publication years.

Results: This narrative review included 6 studies. Four studies assessed outcomes associated with rapid response team members, and 2 of the studies assessed patient outcomes associated with implementing education routinely for rapid response teams. All studies found a positive impact of implementing educational interventions.

Discussion: Our narrative review found that limited research has been conducted in the area of educational interventions for rapid response team members, and of the articles identified, most did not assess patient-associated outcomes. The findings demonstrate that this area of research is in its early stages, and further work is needed to identify what content should be provided in the education and what educational methodologies should be employed, and to continue to assess patient health outcomes associated with educational interventions for rapid response team members.