Reduction of early inpatient transfers and rapid response team calls after implementation of an emergency department intake huddle process.

Patients admitted to the hospital and requiring a subsequent transfer to a higher level of care have increased morbidity, mortality and length of stay compared with patients who do not require a transfer during their hospital stay. We identified that a high number of patients admitted to our intermediate care (IMC) unit required a rapid response team (RRT) call and an early (<24 hours) transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU). A quality improvement project was initiated with the goal to reduce subsequent early transfers to the ICU and RRT calls.