Solutions

Critical Care Response Teams (CCRTs)

Extending critical care beyond the physical walls of the intensive care unit (ICU), regardless of where a patient is located within the hospital.

Critical Care Response Teams (CCRTs) also known as ‘Medical Emergency Teams’, ‘Critical Care Outreach Teams’ or ‘Rapid Response Teams’ are comprised of specially trained critical care practitioners, extending the skills from the Intensivist Care Unit (ICU) to the general ward. CCRTs work collaboratively with hospital staff to facilitate the early identification and prompt mobilization of critical care resources to at-risk patients in both adult and paediatric settings. This proactive and collaborative intervention:

  1. Increases patient safety and quality of care.
  2. Improves general access to scarce critical care resources, and
  3. Improves the appropriateness and efficiency of hospital resource utilization.

Critical Care Services Ontario provides program oversight for over 50, Ministry of Health funded, adult and paediatric CCRTs across the province through program implementation, ongoing performance measurement and evaluation.  For a listing of all Ministry funded CCRT hospital sites please contact CCSO at [email protected].

Extramural Paediatric Critical Care Response Team

The extramural Paediatric Critical Care Response Team (PCCRT) service provides pediatric clinical expertise through a paediatric Intensivist available 24/7 at the four Paediatric Academic Health Sciences Centres. These centres are funded to receive calls, through CritiCall Ontario, from any physician in any Ontario hospital, caring for a critically ill child.

Who is Eligible for a CCRT?

Eligible hospitals must meet a minimum set of criteria to ensure hospital readiness and sustainability of a funded CCRT program. For more information please contact CCSO at [email protected].

CCRT Network

Facilitating Engagement, Knowledge Transfer and Best Practice Sharing

The CCRT Network, comprised of CCRT hospital co-leads, has been established to serve as a forum for new and existing CCRT members to review and discuss best practices leading to timely access to care and improved patient outcomes along with enabling ongoing engagement between CCRTs.

CCRT Training Program (E-learning)

CCSO provides support to formally established CCRT sites through webinars and educational opportunities.

The Critical Care Response Team (CCRT) online learning tool is free of charge and can be accessed at any time.  The tool is beneficial for both new CCRT members and for experienced CCRT members looking for opportunities to enhance their skills. This tool is comprised of five chapters, each with a focus on CCRT consult-specific skills.

  • Introduction to CCRT Response Team
  • Scope of a CCRT Consultation
  • Ethics and CCRT
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Crisis Resource Management

Discover more

Resources

Find all our resources and tools in one convenient repository.

Events

Stay up-to-date on upcoming learning and engagement opportunities.

Contact Us

Have a question or want to learn more about CCSO?