What Evidence is Available on Rapid Response Systems Across Europe? Findings From a Scoping Review

Rapid Response Systems (RRS) aim to implement systematic processes for the early detection and management of emergencies in hospitals. Exploring the current characteristics and organisation of RRS in Europe and evaluating clinical outcomes may help identify areas for improvement.

To provide an overview of the studies conducted in Europe, summarising the characteristics of RRS, their organisational structure and the clinical outcomes documented to date.

A scoping review was conducted according to the framework of Levac and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. The review protocol was registered with Open Science Framework (OSF); CINAHL, Cochrane Library, PubMed and Scopus were then searched. Quantitative primary studies about RRS conducted in Europe and published in English were included.

Twenty-three studies were found, of which 18 (78.3%) were published in the last 10 years. Eleven (47.8%) aimed to describe the function and activities of RRS, while 12 (52.2%) analysed patient outcomes and two (8.7%) the effectiveness, feasibility and costs of RRS. Heterogeneous organisational patterns of RRS emerged, including terminologies (Medical Emergency Team [MET], Rapid Response Team [RRT], Cardiac Arrest Team [CAT], Critical Care Outreach [CCO]), team composition, availability, activation systems and activities.

The number of RRS studies is increasing, especially to compare their organisational structure under heterogeneous terminologies. Future research should investigate the outcome variations between different RRS structures. In addition, guidelines that standardise the minimum data set in the field of RRS by also introducing registries could increase consistency between European practices and studies.

Knowledge of the current situation of RRS in Europe can serve as a basis for policies and benchmark models to promote better patient care.

This scoping review was registered on Open Science Framework (OSF) on 3 August 2024 (https://osf.io/ekb95; https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EKB95).