Publications

On this page you will find news and events as well as publications specifically relating to Between the Flags.

Deteriorating patient updates

In June 2020 the updated NSW Health Policy Directive Recognition and management of patients who are deteriorating (PD2020_18) was released. This update includes links to other programs such as SEPSIS KILLS, REACH and End of Life.

An updated version of the Deteriorating Patient Education Strategy was released in September 2021 to align with changes to the PSE training.

The National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for recognising and responding to acute physiological deterioration was updated in November 2021 and sets out agreed practice for prompt and reliable recognition and response to acute physiological deterioration.

BTF program publications

'Between the flags': implementing a rapid response system at scale

An article reporting on the BTF initiative which enrolled 220 hospitals in New South Wales, Australia.

Between the flags: implementing a safety-net system at scale to recognise and manage deteriorating patients in the New South Wales Public Health System

A discussion of the design and implementation by the CEC of an effective and sustainable safety-net system in all 225 NSW public hospitals. It includes evaluation and lessons learnt from the process.

Comparison of the Between the Flags calling criteria to the MEWS, NEWS and the electronic Cardiac Arrest Risk Triage (eCART) score for the identification of deteriorating ward patients

An article comparing the Between the Flags (BTF) calling criteria to the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and electronic Cardiac Arrest Risk Triage (eCART) score.

The effectiveness of a standardised rapid response system on the reduction of cardiopulmonary arrests and other adverse events among emergency surgical admissions

This article analyses the effectiveness of the BTF program on surgical patients since its introduction in 2010.

Reduction of in-hospital cardiac arrest rates in intensive care-equipped NSW hospitals in association with implementation of Between the Flags rapid response system

This article assesses the impact of BTF on the incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrests and the incidence and outcome of patients admitted to an ICU following cardiac arrest and rapid response team activation in NSW hospitals.

Translation of evidence into policy to improve clinical practice: the development of an emergency department rapid response system

This article outlines the development and implementation of an emergency department Clinical Emergency Response System.