Review: Introduction of the Medical Emergency Team (MET) System; A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Abstract

Overview This important trial is the first prospective randomised controlled trial (RCT) looking at whether medical emergency team (MET) systems "reduce the incidence of cardiac arrests, unplanned admissions to intensive care units (ICU) and deaths." The MET system approach relies on early recognition of warning criteria and subsequent communication and assessment by the MET, to reduce morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have either had insufficient patient numbers, used historical controls or been non-randomised. This study was designed to look at whether a randomised trial would answer questions which had not previously been explained sufficiently. Participating hospitals were recruited to either intervention of control groups. A six month randomised control trial was carried out to try and compare these groups, and show any statistical or clinical benefit of the MET.