GNYHA, in partnership with the United Hospital Fund (UHF), recently held the second learning session for its Rapid Response Systems (RRS) Collaborative. More than 135 participants from 32 hospitals attended and participated in interactive discussions that included a range of topics covering hospital experiences with implementing RRS, long-term sustainability of gains made during the Collaborative's activities, and simulation training.

The GNYHA/UHF RRS Collaborative was launched in 2006 to promote hospitals' use of the RRS—a system in which a team of clinicians is identified to bring critical care expertise to the bedside before a patient's condition becomes critical and escalates to a cardiac arrest.

Lessons Learned: In keeping with the Collaborative's model of sharing lessons learned and best practices across hospitals, a hospital panel including representatives from Franklin Hospital, Hackensack University Medical Center, New York Hospital Queens, NYU Medical Center, St. Charles Hospital, and Vassar Brothers Medical Center presented on their RRS accomplishments, best practices, and strategies for overcoming barriers to implementing an RRS. Kathy Duncan, R.N., the faculty expert for the RRS intervention of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 5 Million Lives Campaign, added to the panel discussion by discussing strategies for sustaining results realized from implementing the RRS. She also described the Early Warning System, which prioritizes patient risk, crisis response, and how important it is to improve the culture of safety by incorporating effective communication techniques, leadership patient safety rounds, and measuring the safety culture consistently through the use of a safety culture survey. 

In the second half of the session, Paul Mayo, M.D., Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Beth Israel Medical Center, and Kathleen Gallo, R.N., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Learning Officer at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, described their experiences with simulation training for interdisciplinary teams. The two presentations each represented a different approach to simulation: one used a state-of-the-art training facility and the other made use of existing resources for training. To address this disparity, GNYHA's Critical Care Leadership Network is working to localize and standardize training in critical care in such areas as simulation training models, ultrasonography, medical management of surgical patients, and burn care to allow all hospital staff to make use of regional resources and expertise.

For more information on the RRS Collaborative and other GNYHA critical care initiatives, contact Terri Straub or Zeynep Sumer at GNYHA.