“Failure to rescue” is the inadequate or delayed response to clinical deterioration in hospitalized patients. Rapid response systems are a set of hospital-wide interventions that attempt to reduce failure to rescue by improving patient monitoring on general wards (the afferent component) and the reliability of the response to deterioration by a dedicated Critical Care Outreach Team, Rapid Response Team or Medical Emergency Team (the efferent component). The reliability of such systems depends on the faultless functioning of a “chain of survival” consisting of: (1) high-quality recording of vital signs; (2) the education and mind-set of staff at the bedside to recognize pathological patterns; (3) the reporting of abnormality to the efferent team; (4) a timely and appropriate response by the latter. Repeated feedback loops are crucial for an effective functioning of the chain.
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