Epidemiology and outcome of medical emergency team calls within 48 hours of intensive care unit discharge

Background Some patients experience early (within 48 h) clinical deterioration and medical emergency team (MET) review following intensive care unit (ICU) discharge. Few studies have explored early MET review, despite it being a recognised quality and safety indicator. Aims To evaluate the (i) proportion of patients discharged from ICU receiving MET review and timing of reviews; (ii) characteristics of patients who received early MET review and (iii) predictors of early MET review and associations with clinical outcomes. Methods This is a retrospective observational study of ICU discharges over 2 years in a tertiary hospital and involves descriptive and inferential statistics, including logistic regression analysis. Results Of 3712 patients, 312 (8.4%) had an early MET review. Patients with cardiothoracic, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and general surgical diagnoses, higher illness severity or who received invasive ventilation had a higher risk of early MET review. On multivariable analysis, early MET review was associated with an increased risk of ICU re‐admission (odds ratio (OR) 6.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) 5.01–9.13, P