Mind the gaps: Building communication bridges during medical codes

We describe the development and implementation of a program to identify and address gaps in code response at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), a tertiary cancer center in New York City. The program aimed to assess the challenges faced by Rapid Response Team (RRT) and Medical Code Team (MCT) members, classify these challenges into medical knowledge/skills or team functioning/communication categories, develop a plan to address the identified challenges, and evaluate its effectiveness within the RRT/MCT teams. Based on survey responses and ongoing quality assurance (QA) reviews the two main challenges identified were chaos or crowd control and role identification. A tailored simulation-based training session was designed and implemented, leading to improved crowd management and the establishment of an ongoing training program.