Integrating rapid response teams and structured care pathways improves outcomes in status epilepticus: A prospective...

To evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated nursing model combining a rapid response team (RRT) with a structured care pathway (SCP) for the emergency management of status epilepticus (SE).

This study included 168 SE patients treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Kangda College of Nanjing Medical University. Patients were divided into an intervention group (n = 86), managed via the novel RRT-SCP model (June 2023-May 2025), and a historical control group (n = 82), which received routine care (June 2021-May 2023). Key performance indicators included the 2-h seizure control rate, physician response time, diagnostic test completion time, nonconvulsive SE (NCSE) recognition rate, complication incidence, and family satisfaction.

The intervention group demonstrated a significantly higher 2-h seizure control rate compared to the control group (87.2% vs. 72.0%, p < 0.05). Both physician response time (5.2 ± 1.5 min vs. 8.4 ± 1.7 min) and diagnostic test completion time (37.1 ± 10.5 min vs. 53.6 ± 12.8 min) were significantly shorter in the intervention group (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the intervention group showed superior early recognition of NCSE (77.8% vs. 23.1%, p < 0.01), a reduced complication rate (17.4% vs. 49.0%, p < 0.05), and higher family satisfaction (91.2% vs. 74.7%, p < 0.01). Year-by-year sensitivity analyses showed generally consistent directions of effect, particularly for response time and complication reduction.

The RRT-SCP model can significantly improve the rescue efficiency and success rate for SE patients while reducing complications.