Duration and management of sepsis-associated hypotension at rapid response team call-outs to patients subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit: A case series

Background: Sepsis-related hypotension in hospital patients is a common reason for rapid response team (RRT) attendance and transfer to intensive care, but little is known about the duration and management of hypotension during these RRT call-outs. Objectives: We aimed to describe the duration and management of hypotension during RRT call-outs to patients with sepsis-related hypotension who required transfer to intensive care. Methods: RRT call-outs during 2018 for hypotension with transfer to intensive care were identified from a prospectively maintained database of RRT call-outs at a single tertiary hospital. From these, the records of a random sample of 60 cases were reviewed, and those attributed to sepsis and without missing data were described. Hypotension was defined as systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg. Results: There were 117 RRT call-outs for hypotension with transfer to intensive care, and of the 60 cases randomly chosen for further review, 41 were deemed sepsis related and were not missing data. The average age of the patients was 62 years, and 18 (44%) were already receiving antibiotics. The median time to arrival in the intensive care unit was 47 minutes. Patients were hypotensive for approximately two-thirds of their RRT time, despite 88% receiving some initial resuscitative treatments (fluids and/or vasopressors). Thirty-two (78%) were treated with intravenous fluids, and 20 (49%), with vasopressors. Patients spent 3 [2-4] days in intensive care, and 7 (17%) died in hospital. Conclusions: Patients with sepsis-related hypotension requiring an RRT call and transfer to intensive care remain hypotensive for a substantial duration of the call. This concept of adequacy of resuscitation after rapid response calls needs further exploration in a larger study.