Effect of Rapid Response Order Panels on Resident and Nurse Satisfaction

Hospitals are required to have rapid response (RR) systems in place to respond to acute changes in a patient's condition. In high-stress situations like RR, medical residents face decision-making challenges due to time constraints and perceived pressure. Instituting order panels (OPs) can facilitate clinical decision making and improve residents' and nurses' satisfaction and patient safety.

This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to create and institute standardized OPs for common RR clinical scenarios to improve satisfaction of internal medicine residents and nurses with the RR process.

This was a single tertiary care center QI project that developed OPs for 10 common RR scenarios. Resident and nursing satisfaction with RR was assessed before and after OP implementation via survey and qualitative data collection.

Residents and nurses expressed high levels of satisfaction across various aspects of the RR process before and after OP implementation in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Increased satisfaction was observed among residents regarding time spent placing orders (94%; P = 0.02) and time spent correcting wrong orders (87%; P = 0.03) after OP implementation. The nurses' survey revealed no statistically significant differences in satisfaction before and after the implementation of OPs regarding communication, collaboration, efficiency, and organization of the team.

The introduction of standardized OPs for RRs resulted in increased satisfaction among internal medicine residents in terms of order placement and correcting wrong orders. Nurse satisfaction based on survey responses remained neutral. Qualitative data from both groups demonstrated a positive impact on communication, efficiency, and teamwork.