Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Project – Full Written

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Committee Chair

Cindy Miller

Abstract

This quality improvement project focused on enhancing early recognition of patient clinical deterioration by leveraging a rapid response team to implement targeted strategies that reduce failures in identifying early and subtle signs of physiologic decline. Rapid response teams have been widely adopted across the healthcare system to facilitate efficient interventions and prevent further deterioration in acutely ill patients. Despite their intended purpose, delays in recognizing clinical deterioration continue to exist. Failure to recognize early signs of deterioration contributes to an increased risk of irreversible organ damage, unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit, prolonged hospital stays, and, in severe cases, cardiac arrest. To assist in addressing this issue, this project introduced an early warning score report within the electronic medical record to facilitate identifying high-risk patients and incorporate proactive rounding by the rapid response team. These interventions were designed to support and empower the bedside nurses in recognizing subtle clinical changes and initiating timely interventions to improve patient outcomes.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS