# Assessing the range of deployment for an intra-hospital medical emergency team

## TL;DR

This study analyzes how a hospital's emergency team handles crises, finding that severe cases often happen on weekends and require longer response times.

## Contribution

The study identifies patterns in emergency team deployments and links severity to timing and location, offering insights for improving hospital emergency systems.

## Key findings

- Severe emergencies (NACA 5–7) mainly occur on weekends and during late/night shifts.
- Higher NACA scores correlate with prolonged deployments, often exceeding 60 minutes.
- Emergency severity varies significantly by location, with ICU cases being the most severe.

## Abstract

Medical emergency teams (MET) play a crucial role in managing hospital emergencies. This single-center, retrospective cohort study at the University Medical Center Göttingen examines deployment patterns and operational challenges. Using the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) score, it assesses case severity, emergency care trends, and the influence of location and timing on patient outcomes. All MET calls handled by the Department of Anesthesiology from June 2019 to June 2023 were analyzed based on emergency documentation. 522 emergency protocols were analyzed. The most common reasons for MET activation were cardiovascular problems (32%), resuscitation (22%) and respiratory distress (15%). ROSC was achieved in 54.4% of CPR cases (62 out of 114 patients). On weekends, distribution of NACA scores shifted towards higher scores, OR = 1.831 (95% CI [1.298–2.583], p = 0.001). The severity of cases varied significantly between emergency locations (NACA score ≥ 5: public area: 1.3%, general ward: 56,8%, IMC: 65,2% and ICU: 86,8%, p < 0.001). There is a significant positive rank correlation of 0.566 (95%-CI [0.505–0.622], p < 0.001) between the NACA score and the duration of MET deployment. Severe emergencies (NACA 5–7) mainly occur on weekends and during late/night shifts, requiring specialized support. Higher NACA scores correlate with prolonged deployments, often exceeding 60 min. Optimizing alert systems and personnel planning is crucial for sustaining patient safety and care continuity.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11739-025-04064-5.