Do common sense and belief trump evidence on RRTs?

Erik DeLue, MD, blogging over at Today’s Hospitalist thinks so:

Yes, I am aware that Peter Pronovost, MD—a MacArthur Genius, no less—warned us in the Oct. 2, 2006, JAMA, that we should “Walk, Don’t Run” in embracing RRTs. Yet, the “truthiness” (there’s Mr. Colbert again) of how effective RRTs are has been unmistakable in every community hospital at which I have worked. I have plenty of observational data, albeit far from publishable grade, that demonstrates decreased number of code blues and ICU transfers after a hospital’s RRT team has been put in place. But ultimately, common sense has been the biggest mandate for RRTs in my institutions.

If it’s working at your institution by all means keep it going. But, absent high level evidence, please don’t make it into a performance measure.