A Team-Based Approach to Improving Timely Sepsis Care

A rapid cycle quality improvement project was completed, consisting of four plan-do-study-act cycles over 90 days. Each cycle included tests of change related to team and patient engagement, screening, and the use of timely sepsis orders. Data were collected three times weekly and analyzed using run charts. Interventions included screening in triage with positively screened patients receiving participatory education, team handoff communication, a sepsis checklist for nurse-driven orders, and Power Hour for timely care. Team communication improved to 83%. Patient education exceeded goal, with 100% of patients taking an active role in care. Sepsis screening improved to 100%. The recommended One-Hour Bundle for timely sepsis treatment improved to 83%. The project was successful in improving patient and team engagement, screening, and sepsis care within one hour for emergency department patients.

Key takeaways include:

• Learn effective strategies to implement best practices for timely sepsis care.
• Review the effects of implementing a standardized sepsis process using team handoff communication, participatory patient education, sepsis screening, and nurse-driven orders.
• Discuss multidisciplinary approaches for improving timely sepsis care using the Surviving Sepsis Campaign One-Hour Bundle.

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Presenter

Carla Bray, DNP, FNP-C

In 1995, at the age of 19, Carla started her career in nursing as an LPN. She then graduated from Northeast Mississippi Community College with an associate degree in nursing in 2002 and from the University of North Alabama with a bachelor’s in nursing in 2008. She spent the early part of her nursing career in labor and delivery and home health and hospice, then shifted her focus to quality as Core Measures Coordinator. In 2009, she graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Alabama Birmingham and is board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She has been an Emergency Department nurse practitioner and hospitalist since becoming certified. She graduated from Frontier Nursing University DNP program in 2019 and received the DNP project exemplar award. She is a member of AANP and the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners. She strives to provide quality care using best practices for each patient she encounters.