Vital sign abnormalities, rapid response, and adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients.

Rapid response activation (RRA), triggered chiefly by surpassing threshold vital sign abnormalities (TVSAs), is designed to intervene at the earliest point in a patient's deteriorating course. The authors aimed to quantify the incidence of TVSA among patients hospitalized on acute care units in a hospital that uses rapid response. During the course of 6 months, the authors compared adverse events (mortality, unexpected intensive care unit [ICU] transfers, and cardiopulmonary arrest) and TVSA among patients who triggered an RRA, patients with TVSAs and no RRA, and all other patients.