Critical incidents as perceived by rapid response teams in emergency services

Abstract

Objective: To analyze two hospital emergency services, one in a public institution and another in a philanthropic one, from the perspective of rapid response team professionals in the face of positive and negative critical incidents. Method: Descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study carried with 62 health professionals. Critical Incident Technique was employed as the theoretical-methodological framework, along with Content Analysis for analyzing data. Results: Sixty-two health professionals - including 23 nurses, 20 physiotherapists and 19 doctors - took part in this study. Clusters for 89 critical incidents were obtained; 66 of them were considered positive, whereas 23 were negative. The situations associated to the provided services were discriminated in three categories: recognition of patient clinical deterioration; rapid response team activation in the unit; and time until rapid response team arrival at the ward. Conclusion: In spite of the difficulties faced by such professionals while providing care to patients who become severely ill in non-critical wards, positive reports were predominant in all categories, what legitimized this service's importance as a contribution to quality and safety of hospitalized patients.