Other Efferent Limb Teams: Crisis Response for Obstetric Patients

Inpatient obstetric care involves periodic maternal and or fetal crisis situations. During events such as fetal bradycardia and maternal hemorrhage, patient care needs greatly exceed the resources allocated to routine care. Many of these crises require rapid, coordinated intervention of a multidisciplinary team to optimize outcome. Increasingly, hospitals have incorporated obstetric teams into their rapid response system to address these recurring, but unpredictable maternal and/or fetal events. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee Opinion “Medical Emergency Preparedness” emphasized the importance of crisis response teams for clinical emergencies relevant to obstetric patients.1