Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department

Objective: In the UK alone, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis with at least 48,000 people losing their lives in sepsis-related illnesses every year. Yet, for many patients, with early diagnosis it is easily treatable. The UK sepsis trust developed a sepsis screening and action tool which helps c...

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Main Authors: Bashar Jamal Elwir, Isaac Bell, Alina Paunescu, Venkateswara Kotamraju
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Discover STM Publishing Ltd 2024-03-01
Series:Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://sjemed.com/?mno=195468
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author Bashar Jamal Elwir
Isaac Bell
Alina Paunescu
Venkateswara Kotamraju
author_facet Bashar Jamal Elwir
Isaac Bell
Alina Paunescu
Venkateswara Kotamraju
author_sort Bashar Jamal Elwir
collection DOAJ
description Objective: In the UK alone, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis with at least 48,000 people losing their lives in sepsis-related illnesses every year. Yet, for many patients, with early diagnosis it is easily treatable. The UK sepsis trust developed a sepsis screening and action tool which helps clinicians screen for and identify possible sepsis. We conducted a Quality improvement project as an audit showed compliance with the sepsis screening and action tool was 20%. Our problem statement was many patients presenting to RDH ED with suspected sepsis will not be screened for sepsis via the sepsis screening and action tool. This may lead to delays or noncompliance to the sepsis 6 pathway which effectively will lead to morbidities in this patient population. Our rationale for was improving the recognition of sepsis via the standardised sepsis screening and action tool will help raise the awareness and assure early recognition of septic patients in ED. Design: We assembled a QI team ranging from nursing staff, doctors, ACP's. We used four separate PDSA cycles over the course of 9 months. Use of a structured method which is commonly used to test changes as part of an improvement initiatives. It enabled the team to thoroughly and efficiently test and evaluate your ideas for change and involves four steps. Results: Compliance at the start was 20%, we managed through 4 PDSA cycles to improve the compliance to 60%. We further broke the action tool down to further asses which components to focus on. These were individual elements on the tool. Antibiotics given in one hour improved from 82% to 100 %, blood cultures taken from 65% to 95%, target sats and blood gas/lactate level was constant 100% and remained 100%. Although documentation of input/output charting was 10% at the start of the project and 30% at the end. Conclusion: Improvement of the compliance to the sepsis screening and action tool from 20% to 60%, which in turn improved one-hour antibiotics, blood cultures taken, fluids prescribed which effectively improved the identification and treatment of patients with suspected sepsis in our emergency department. [SJEMed 2024; 5(1.100): S18-S18]
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series Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine
spelling doaj-art-862abe8c2a564463a307042b8a9fb46d2025-08-20T02:40:30ZengDiscover STM Publishing LtdSaudi Journal of Emergency Medicine1658-84872024-03-015Emirates Society of Emergency Medicine 2023 (ESEM23) Conference AbstractsS18S1810.24911/SJEMed.72-1711472092195468Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency DepartmentBashar Jamal Elwir0Isaac Bell1Alina Paunescu2Venkateswara Kotamraju3bashar.elwir@nhs.net isaac.bell@nhs.net alina.paunescu@nhs.net venkateswara.kotamraju@nhs.netObjective: In the UK alone, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis with at least 48,000 people losing their lives in sepsis-related illnesses every year. Yet, for many patients, with early diagnosis it is easily treatable. The UK sepsis trust developed a sepsis screening and action tool which helps clinicians screen for and identify possible sepsis. We conducted a Quality improvement project as an audit showed compliance with the sepsis screening and action tool was 20%. Our problem statement was many patients presenting to RDH ED with suspected sepsis will not be screened for sepsis via the sepsis screening and action tool. This may lead to delays or noncompliance to the sepsis 6 pathway which effectively will lead to morbidities in this patient population. Our rationale for was improving the recognition of sepsis via the standardised sepsis screening and action tool will help raise the awareness and assure early recognition of septic patients in ED. Design: We assembled a QI team ranging from nursing staff, doctors, ACP's. We used four separate PDSA cycles over the course of 9 months. Use of a structured method which is commonly used to test changes as part of an improvement initiatives. It enabled the team to thoroughly and efficiently test and evaluate your ideas for change and involves four steps. Results: Compliance at the start was 20%, we managed through 4 PDSA cycles to improve the compliance to 60%. We further broke the action tool down to further asses which components to focus on. These were individual elements on the tool. Antibiotics given in one hour improved from 82% to 100 %, blood cultures taken from 65% to 95%, target sats and blood gas/lactate level was constant 100% and remained 100%. Although documentation of input/output charting was 10% at the start of the project and 30% at the end. Conclusion: Improvement of the compliance to the sepsis screening and action tool from 20% to 60%, which in turn improved one-hour antibiotics, blood cultures taken, fluids prescribed which effectively improved the identification and treatment of patients with suspected sepsis in our emergency department. [SJEMed 2024; 5(1.100): S18-S18]https://sjemed.com/?mno=195468epsis quality improvement project sepsis 6
spellingShingle Bashar Jamal Elwir
Isaac Bell
Alina Paunescu
Venkateswara Kotamraju
Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
Saudi Journal of Emergency Medicine
epsis quality improvement project sepsis 6
title Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
title_full Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
title_fullStr Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
title_full_unstemmed Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
title_short Recognise Sepsis in the Emergency Department
title_sort recognise sepsis in the emergency department
topic epsis quality improvement project sepsis 6
url https://sjemed.com/?mno=195468
work_keys_str_mv AT basharjamalelwir recognisesepsisintheemergencydepartment
AT isaacbell recognisesepsisintheemergencydepartment
AT alinapaunescu recognisesepsisintheemergencydepartment
AT venkateswarakotamraju recognisesepsisintheemergencydepartment