Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026
Setting Up a Stroke Team Algorithm and Conducting Simulation-based Training in the Emergency Department - A Practical Guide
Published on: January 15, 2017
Tasks completed by nursing members of a teaching hospital Medical Emergency Team
Michelle Topple1, Brooke Ryan1, Ian Baldwin2
1Associate Nurse Unit Manager (ANUM), Australia.
Objectives:
To assess tasks completed by intensive care medical emergency team nurses.
Research Design:
Prospective observational study.
Setting:
Australian teaching hospital.
Main Outcome Measures:
Nursing-related technical and non-technical tasks and level of self-reported confidence and competence.
Results:
Amongst 400 calls, triggers and nursing tasks were captured in 93.5% and 77.3% of cases, respectively. The median patient age was 73 years. The four most common triggers were hypotension (22.0%), tachycardia (21.1%), low SpO2 (17.4%), and altered conscious state (10.1%). Non-technical skills included investigation review (33.7%), history acquisition (18.4%), contribution to the management plan (40.5%) and explanation to bedside nurses (78.3%), doctors (13.6%), allied health (3.9%) or patient/relative (39.5%). Technical tasks included examining the circulation (32%), conscious state (29.4%), and chest (26.5%). Additional tasks included adjusting oxygen (23.9%), humidification (8.4%), non-invasive ventilation (6.5%), performing an ECG (22%), and administrating fluid as a bolus (17.5%) or maintenance (16, 5.2%), or medication as a statim dose (16.8%) or infusion (5.2%). Self-reported competence and confidence appeared to be high overall amongst our MET nurses.
Conclusion:
Our findings provide important information on the tasks completed by Medical Emergency Team nurses and will guide future training.
Related Concept Videos
01:24Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching II: Planning and Implementation
01:17Endotracheal Intubation II: Nursing Management
1. Nursing Care of Patients Before Intubation
Before the endotracheal intubation procedure, nurses play an essential role in ensuring the process goes smoothly. The nurses must be familiar with intubation...
01:15Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.
01:20Angina V: Nursing Management
01:21Interdisciplinary Care: The Health Care Team-I
Physicians
The physician's primary responsibility is to diagnose illness and direct the medical or surgical treatment of the condition. The authority to admit patients to a healthcare agency or institution and practice care within that setting is granted to physicians by the healthcare agency or institution...
01:26Cardiac Catheterization IV: Nursing Management