(1269) Retrospective Review of Early Response Teams at University Hospital: September-December 2022

Introduction: University Hospital (UH) is a large inner-city academic medical center where the majority of patients have complex medical histories. Many patients admitted to the medical wards are at high risk for decompensation. Herein, we reviewed the Early Response Team (ERT) called on the wards between September 2022 and December 2022 to better understand the causes of decompensation in our patient population. We also analyzed disposition data for these patients to assess the outcomes of the ERTs.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of patients who had ERT's at UH between September 2022 to December 2022. From a total of 150 ERT's, 125 were analyzed for etiology of the ERT, 24-hour disposition of the patient, as well as hospital disposition of the patient.

Results: Of the 125 ERT's called between September 2022 and December 2022, the most common cause of ERT was worsening hypoxia, involved in 36% of cases. Altered mental status contributed to 33.6% of the ERT's, and hypotension contributed to 31.2%% of the events. A smaller proportion of ERT's were called due to nurse concern, hypoglycemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, and seizure. Furthermore, 24 hours after the ERT, 52.8% of patients remained in their room, 36.8% were transferred to a higher level of care, 4.8% were discharged, 4% expired, and 1.6% transitioned to comfort care. Regarding hospital disposition, 38.66% were discharged home, 30.25% were discharged to a facility, 16.81% expired, 10.08% were transitioned to comfort care, and 4.2% signed out against medical advice.

Conclusions: Upon review of the ERT data from these four months, we identified that hypoxia was the most common reason for an ERT at UH. A more detailed review and data analysis over a longer period of time should be undertaken to determine an intervention to ultimately decrease the number of ERT's secondary to hypoxia and improve patient outcomes.