Identification of the Information Needs of a Nurse-led Rapid Response Team to Design and Develop an Electronic Medical Record System

This study aimed to identify the essential information needs in the rapid response team (RRT) electronic records of hospitals.

 This cross-sectional study was conducted among 71 RRT members of Abu Ali Sina Organ Transplant Center in Shiraz, Iran. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire by trained researchers. Descriptive (mean, frequency, and percentage) and analytic (Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis) statistics were used to analyze the data.

  The three data elements with the highest mean scores were blood pressure (4.8), heart rate (4.7), and respiratory rate (4.6). Among the top ten data elements according to Nursing Supervisor “Investigations (Most recent chest x-Ray)”, “Investigations (EF)”, and “Investigations (pulmonary function test)”; according to Head nurse “Investigations (EF)”, “Laboratory (Arterial blood gas)” and “Laboratory (Hb)”; and according to RRT ICU Nurse “Laboratory (Hb)”, “Laboratory (O2 saturation)” and “Laboratory (K)” were the most important data elements. Also, by opening the RRT Registered anesthesia nurse, “Physiology (BP)”, “Physiology (RR)”, and “Physiology (body temperature)” were the most important data elements. There was a statistically significant difference between different clinical roles in the relationship between important data elements (P <0.05). Also, there was a statistically significant difference between the registered group of RRT anesthesia nurses and other clinical role groups (P <0.008).

The identified information needs in this study can be used to inform the development and design of user-centered EMRs for nurse-led RRTs.