Development and pilot feasibility study of a health information technology tool to calculate mortality risk for patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis: the Carotid Risk Assessment Tool (CARAT).

Background: Patients with no history of stroke but with stenosis of the carotid arteries can reduce the risk of future stroke with surgery or stenting. At present, a physicians' ability to recommend optimal treatments based on an individual's risk profile requires estimating the likelihood that a patient will have a poor peri-operative outcomes and the likelihood that the patient will survive long enough to gain benefit from the procedure. We describe the development of the CArotid Risk Assessment Tool (CARAT) into a 2-year mortality risk calculator within the electronic medical record, integrating the tool into the clinical workflow, training the clinical team to use the tool, and assessing the feasibility and acceptability of the tool in one clinic setting.

Establishing a rapid response team (RRT) in an academic hospital: one year's experience.

Background: Rapid response teams and medical emergency teams have been utilized to rapidly manage seriously ill patients at risk of cardiopulmonary arrest and other high-risk conditions but have not been extensively described in the American medical literature.

Objectives: To describe a full year's experience of implementing a rapid response team (RRT) in an academic medical center.

Design: Retrospective analysis of our hospital's RRT database and description of the implementation process from July 2004 to July 2005.