Improving Communication by Standardizing Pediatric Rapid Response Team Documentation

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality improvement
• Patient safety research
• Clinical informatics

Background:

• Rapid response teams (RRTs) are crucial for enhancing patient care and safety in hospitals.
• Current documentation processes for rapid response events (RREs) are inconsistent, hindering effective communication.
• Suboptimal communication impacts recommendations to medical teams and families.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a standardized documentation process for RREs.
• To improve the quality of communication following RREs.
• To assess the impact of a standardized tool on documentation completeness.

Main Methods:

• A preintervention chart review identified baseline documentation deficits.
• A standardized RRE documentation tool, including an Epic SmartPhrase with six key elements, was developed.
• A postintervention chart review evaluated documentation quality after SmartPhrase implementation.

Main Results:

• The study identified respiratory distress as a primary reason for RRE activations (60.8%).
• Documentation of the six key elements significantly improved post-intervention (p < .05).
• The implemented Epic SmartPhrase led to enhanced RRE documentation.

Conclusions:

• Standardized documentation of RREs using an Epic SmartPhrase significantly improves quality.
• Enhanced documentation quality facilitates better communication among healthcare providers.
• Improved communication through standardized documentation contributes to enhanced patient safety.