Early-warning system halves in-hospital heart attacks

A NEW early-warning rapid response system in an Irish hospital has almost halved the number of cardiac arrests among its patients.

The South Infirmary-Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork became the first Irish hospital to introduce an early-warning “score system” for patients at risk of cardiac arrest last year.

It was combined with the introduction of a new medical emergency team (MET), which was tasked specifically to deal rapidly with these cases. Since the system was introduced in July 2006, in-hospital cardiac arrests have dropped by 46% and survival rates have jumped from the international norm of 17% to 52%.