System Barriers to RN Activation of Rapid Response Teams: New Evidence
By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor
Rapid response teams (RRTs) in acute care facilities are there to decrease mortality from preventable complications. But there is evidence that RRT systems “aren’t working as designed, particularly with regard to problems in the activation stage,” according to nurse researcher Jane Saucedo Braaten.
Figure 1. Five Domains of Cognitive Work Analysis and Corresponding Study Questions (click image to enlarge)
Interested in how hospital system factors influence RNs’ activation behavior, Braaten decided to investigate further. She reports on her findings in this month’s CE–Original Research feature, “Hospital System Barriers to Rapid Response Team Activation: A Cognitive Work Analysis.” Here’s a summary.
Purpose: To use cognitive work analysis to describe factors within the hospital system that shape medical–surgical nurses’ RRT activation behavior.
Methods: Cognitive work analysis offers a framework for the study of complex sociotechnical systems and was used as the organizing element of the study. Data were obtained from interviews with 12 medical–surgical nurses and document review.
Results: Many system factors affected participants’ activation decisions. Systemic constraints, especially in cases of subtle or gradual clinical changes, included a lack of adequate information, the availability of multiple strategies, the need to justify RRT activation, a scarcity of human resources, and informal hierarchical norms in […]