Failure to rescue: a useful quality-of-care indicator to integrate into the Italian healthcare context?

Failure to rescue: a useful quality-of-care indicator to integrate into the Italian healthcare context? Failure to rescue (FTR) is defined as the inability to prevent a patient’s clinical deterioration or death, following the onset of a treatable complication. As a quality indicator of healthcare, the FTR assesses the ability of healthcare professionals to detect early signs of deterioration and respond in a timely and appropriate manner to avoid adverse outcomes. It involves three closely interconnected dimensions of care: the effectiveness of patient monitoring and surveillance systems, the precision and promptness of clinical decision-making, and the capacity to implement timely therapeutic interventions and escalate care when needed. FTR is strongly associated with hospital morbidity and mortality and is widely recognized as a sensitive indicator of the responsiveness and quality of acute care services. FTR has been used internationally for more than three decades, but not yet in the Italian healthcare system. This contribution aims to understand whether FTR could be considered a nursing outcome indicator and may be used in the Italian context.