Editing Cardiac arrest (section)

===Crash teams===
In hospital, a cardiac arrest is referred to as a "crash", or a "code". This typically refers to [[code blue]] on the [[hospital emergency codes]]. A dramatic drop in vital sign measurements is referred to as "coding" or "crashing", though coding is usually used when it results in cardiac arrest, while crashing might not. Treatment for cardiac arrest is sometimes referred to as "calling a code".

Patients in general wards often deteriorate for several hours or even days before a cardiac arrest occurs.<ref name="Resuscitation Council" /><ref name="Kause-2004">{{cite journal |vauthors=Kause J, Smith G, Prytherch D, Parr M, Flabouris A, Hillman K |date=September 2004 |title=A comparison of antecedents to cardiac arrests, deaths and emergency intensive care admissions in Australia and New Zealand, and the United Kingdom--the ACADEMIA study |journal=Resuscitation |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=275–282 |doi=10.1016/j.resuscitation.2004.05.016 |pmid=15325446}}</ref> This has been attributed to a lack of knowledge and skill amongst ward-based staff, in particular, a failure to measure the [[respiratory rate]], which is often the major predictor of a deterioration<ref name="Resuscitation Council" /> and can often change up to 48 hours prior to a cardiac arrest. In response, many hospitals now have increased training for ward-based staff. A number of "early warning" systems also exist that aim to quantify the person's risk of deterioration based on their [[vital signs]] and thus provide a guide to staff. In addition, specialist staff are being used more effectively to augment the work already being done at the ward level. These include:
* Crash teams (or code teams) – These are designated staff members with particular expertise in resuscitation who are called to the scene of all arrests within the hospital. This usually involves a specialized cart of equipment (including a [[defibrillation|defibrillator]]) and drugs called a "[[crash cart]]" or "crash trolley".
* [[Medical emergency team]]s – These teams respond to all emergencies with the aim of treating people in the acute phase of their illness in order to prevent a cardiac arrest. These teams have been found to decrease the rates of in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and improve survival.<ref name="Kronick-2015" />
* Critical care outreach – In addition to providing the services of the other two types of teams, these teams are responsible for educating non-specialist staff. In addition, they help to facilitate transfers between [[Intensive care unit|intensive care/high dependency units]] and the general hospital wards. This is particularly important as many studies have shown that a significant percentage of patients discharged from critical care environments quickly deteriorate and are re-admitted; the outreach team offers support to ward staff to prevent this from happening.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}