Medical Emergency Teams

• Mets and Patient Safety.- Measuring and Improving Safety.- The Evolution of the Health Care System.- Process Change in Health Care Institutions: Top-Down or Bottom-Up?.- The Challenge of Predicting In-Hospital Iatrogenic Deaths.- Overview of Hospital Medicine.- Medical Trainees and Patient Safety.- Matching Levels of Care with Levels of Illness.- Creating a Mets System.- General Principles of Medical Emergency Teams.- Potential Sociological and Political Barriers to Medical Emergency Team Implementation.- Overview of Various Medical Emergency Team Models.- Early Goal-Directed Therapy.- Nurse-Led Medical Emergency Teams: A Recipe for Success in Community Hospitals.- ICU Without Walls: A New York City Model.- Hospital Size and Location and the Feasibility of the Medical Emergency Team.- Medical Emergency Teams in Teaching Hospitals.- The Nurse’s Perspective.- The Hospital Administrator’s Perspective.- Personnel Resources for Crisis Response.- Equipment, Medications, and Supplies for a Medical Emergency Team Response.- Measuring Outcomes.- Resident Training and the Medical Emergency Team.- Teaching Organized Crisis Team Functioning Using Human Simulators.- Information Systems Considerations: Integration of Medical Emergency Team Clinical Indicators.- Evaluating Complex System Interventions in Patient Safety.- Integrating MET into a Patient Safety Program.- Are Medical Emergency Teams Worth the Cost?.

From the reviews: "The aim of this book is to provide a manual describing the approach to creating a Medical Emergency Team (MET) service and evaluating its performance. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the concept ... . Examples from practice are frequently cited from a global perspective. ... Chapters are self-sufficient units that each review one aspect of the MET. ... it is an important guide to the dos and don'ts of establishing a MET." (Ann McGinley and Rupert M Pearse, Critical Care Forum, April, 2007) "The medical emergency team (MET) is a concept which is aimed at identifying those hospital patients at risk of clinical deterioration. ... This book aims to be a guide to health care professionals and administrators wishing to implement this concept in their hospital. It is intended primarily as a resource for those aiming to set up a MET in their hospital. ... It should certainly be read by hospital administrators and those interested in quality improvement, currently working in hospitals without such teams." (L. Walker and N. R. Webster, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Vol. 97 (6), 2006) "A comprehensive multiauthored review that examines techniques for implementation and assessment of hospital-based medical emergency teams (METs). ... This readable text provides great background and advice for anyone involved in implementation of a MET. ... All physicians actively involved in a hospital-based practice. In addition, nurses, respiratory therapists, and hospital administrators actively involved in MET implementation will find ... useful." (Nicola Schiebel, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Vol. 81 (7), July, 2006)