Graz hospital rapid response team activated nine times

A rapid response team at the University Hospital Graz has been activated nine times since it was introduced on the hospital’s cardiac surgery ward in summer 2025, ORF reported. The team is intended to identify and treat critical deterioration early, including postoperative bleeding, sepsis and cardiac arrest.

The system is based on models established for years in English-speaking countries, particularly Australia, and was adapted to the needs of the cardiac surgery ward in Graz.

The team is called when an early warning assessment detects a critical value in a patient’s breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure, level of consciousness or temperature. Its aim is to prevent a life-threatening emergency, such as cardiac arrest, whenever possible.

In three of the nine cases, patients were transferred to the intensive care unit. They were able to leave intensive care after one day. The other six patients continued to receive care either on the regular ward or in intensive monitoring.

Unlike a conventional resuscitation team, which responds after an acute life-threatening situation has already occurred, the rapid response team is called in response to clearly defined warning signs.

The team consists of the intensive care unit’s doctors and nursing staff on duty. Christoph Kumpitsch, head of the Intensive Care Heart and Transplant C ward, said the system ensures that nurses do not have to rely on their observations alone. If measurements or a patient’s clinical condition indicate that something is wrong, a defined process allows intensive care expertise to be brought quickly to the bedside, he said.