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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Radiol Nurs. 2011 Jun;30(2):49–52. doi: 10.1016/j.jradnu.2011.02.001

Table 2.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Medical Emergency Team call criteria*

Cardiovascular
Heart Rate <40 or >140 with new symptoms or
any rate >160
Blood pressure <80 or >200 systolic or 110
diastolic with symptoms (neurologic changes,
angina, dyspnea)
Respiratory
Rate <8 or >36
New onset of difficulty breathing
New pulse oximeter reading <85% for >5 without
known chronic hypoxia
New oxygen requirement to keep SpO2>85%
Acute Neurologic Change
Acute loss of consciousness
New onset lethargy
Sudden collapse
Seizure (outside of seizure monitor unit)
Sudden loss of movement or weakness in the
face, arm or leg
Other
>1 STAT page required to assemble team needed
to respond to a crisis
Patient complaint of chest pain
(unresponsive to nitroglycerine or MD unavailable)
Color change (patient or extremity): Pale, dusky, gray or blue
Unexplained agitation of >10 min.
Narcan use without immediate response
Suicide attempt
Uncontrolled bleeding
Bleeding into airway
Large acute blood loss
Crash cart must be used for rapid delivery of meds
*

adapted from DeVita, M.A., Braithwaite, R.S., Mahidhara, R., Stuart, S., Foraida, M., & Simmons, R. (2004). Use of medical emergency team responses to reduce hospital cardiopulmonary arrests. Quality & Safety in Health Care, 13, 251-254.