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Improving the management of sepsis in a district general hospital by implementing the 'Sepsis Six' recommendations.

ABSTRACT: Sepsis is a common condition with a major global impact on healthcare resources and expenditure. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign has been vigorous in promoting internationally recognised pathways to improve the management of septic patients and decrease mortality. However, translating recommendations into practice is a challenging and complex task that requires a multi-faceted approach with sustained engagement from local stakeholders. Whilst working at a district general hospital in New Zealand, we were concerned by the seemingly inconsistent management of septic patients, often leading to long delays in the initiation of life-saving measures such as antibiotic, fluid, and oxygen administration. In our hospital there were no clear systems, protocols or guidelines in place for identifying and managing septic patients. We therefore launched the Sepsis Six resuscitation bundle of care in our hospital in an attempt to raise awareness amongst staff and improve the management of septic patients. We introduced a number of simple low-cost interventions that included educational sessions for junior doctors and nursing staff, as well as posters and modifications to phlebotomy trolleys that acted as visual reminders to implement the Sepsis Six bundle. Overall, we found there to a be a steady improvement in the delivery of the Sepsis Six bundle in septic patients with 63% of patients receiving appropriate care within one hour, compared to 29% prior to our interventions. However this did not translate to an improvement in patient mortality. This project forms part of an on going process to instigate a fundamental culture change among local healthcare professionals regarding the management of sepsis. Whilst we have demonstrated improved implementation of the Sepsis Six bundle, the key challenge remains to ensure that momentum of this project continues and forms a platform for sustainable clinical improvement in the long term.

SUBMITTER: Kumar P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4693057 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Improving the management of sepsis in a district general hospital by implementing the 'Sepsis Six' recommendations.

Kumar Prashant P Jordan Mark M Caesar Jenny J Miller Sarah S

BMJ quality improvement reports 20150909 1

Sepsis is a common condition with a major global impact on healthcare resources and expenditure. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign has been vigorous in promoting internationally recognised pathways to improve the management of septic patients and decrease mortality. However, translating recommendations into practice is a challenging and complex task that requires a multi-faceted approach with sustained engagement from local stakeholders. Whilst working at a district general hospital in New Zealand, ...[more]

PMID: 26734403

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Project description:Quality of documentation is harder to quantify and incentivise, but it has a significant impact on patient care. Good discharge summaries facilitate continuity between secondary and primary care. The junior doctors' forum led this project to improve the quality of electronic discharge summaries (eDS). Baseline measurement revealed significant room for improvement. We measured the quality of 10 summaries per month (across all inpatient specialties), against 23 indicators from the revised Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) standards (2013) that were prioritised by GPs as a "minimum dataset". Junior doctors felt that the Trust's dual eDS systems were responsible for great variation in quality. This was confirmed by the results of a comparison audit of the systems in April 2014: one system greatly outperformed the other (57% mean compliance with iSoft clinical management (iCM) based system vs. 77% with InfoPath-based system). We recommended that the Trust move to a single eDS system, decommissioning the iCM-based system, and this proposal was approved by several Trust committees. We worked with information services, junior doctors, general practitioners and hospital physicians to develop and implement a generic template to further improve compliance with AoMRC standards. In August 2014, the iCM-based system was withdrawn, the new template went live, and training was delivered, coinciding with the changeover of junior doctors to minimise disruption. Median compliance increased from 66.7% to 77.8%. Quality of discharge summaries had improved across the specialties. There was a reduction in the number of complaints and positive qualitative feedback from general practitioners and junior doctors. Completion of discharge summaries within 24 hours was not affected by this change. There is still more to be done to improve quality; average compliance with the full AoMRC standards (39 indicators) is 59.5%. With the approval of the Trust executive committee further plan, do, study, act (PDSA) cycles are underway, working to improve the remaining specialty-specific templates.

Project description:Hypokalaemia is prevalent in 20% of hospitalised patients. Furthermore, inadequate management of hypokalemia was identified in 24% of these patients. Associated with significant patient morbidity and mortality, the identification, investigation, and treatment of hypokalaemia was identified as an area for improvement in the management of medical inpatients. The project aims to measure the assessment, management, and therapeutic monitoring of medical inpatients with hypokalaemia in a district general hospital. All medical inpatients over a one week period who met the criteria for hypokalaemia (serum potassium <3.5 mmol/L on standard biochemical sample) were included in the audit. Patient's notes were located and evaluated to identify if they had mild, moderate, or severe hypokalaemia. Further data on ECG requests, repeat U&Es, serum magnesium analysis, treatment prescribed, and medication review dates was collated. A re-audit was completed after the introduction of a set of interventions which included a hypokalaemia treatment algorithm. Pre-intervention analysis of all medical inpatients, who met our inclusion criteria for hypokalaemia, identified 32 patients. 25 of these patients met the criteria for mild hypokalaemia (3.1-3.4 mmol/L) and 7 met the criteria for moderate hypokalaemia (2.5-3.0 mmol/L). Only 7/32 (22 %) patients were receiving adequate treatment based on trust guidelines. Post intervention results showed marked improvement in the management of patients with hypokalaemia. A total of 30 patients were identified in this post-intervention group. There were 16/30 patients who qualified as mild hypokalaemia (3.1-3.4 mmol/L) and 14/30 with moderate hypokalaemia (2.5-3.0 mmol/L). 19/30 (63%) patients in the post-intervention group were correctly prescribed appropriate medication doses consistent with the treatment algorithm. Following the initial success of the project, analysis at 3 months showed a positive trend for sustained improvement when compared to the pre-intervention results.

Project description:PurposeTo provide clinicians practicing in resource-limited settings with a framework to improve the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric and adult patients with sepsis.MethodsThe medical literature on sepsis management was reviewed. Specific attention was paid to identify clinical evidence on sepsis management from resource-limited settings.ResultsRecommendations are grouped into acute and post-acute interventions. Acute interventions include liberal fluid resuscitation to achieve adequate tissue perfusion, normal heart rate and arterial blood pressure, use of epinephrine or dopamine for inadequate tissue perfusion despite fluid resuscitation, frequent measurement of arterial blood pressure in hemodynamically unstable patients, administration of hydrocortisone or prednisolone to patients requiring catecholamines, oxygen administration to achieve an oxygen saturation >90%, semi-recumbent and/or lateral position, non-invasive ventilation for increased work of breathing or hypoxemia despite oxygen therapy, timely administration of adequate antimicrobials, thorough clinical investigation for infectious source identification, fluid/tissue sampling and microbiological work-up, removal, drainage or debridement of the infectious source. Post-acute interventions include regular re-assessment of antimicrobial therapy, administration of antimicrobials for an adequate but not prolonged duration, avoidance of hypoglycemia, pharmacological or mechanical deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis, resumption of oral food intake after resuscitation and regaining of consciousness, careful use of opioids and sedatives, early mobilization, and active weaning of invasive support. Specific considerations for malaria, puerperal sepsis and HIV/AIDS patients with sepsis are included.ConclusionOnly scarce evidence exists for the management of pediatric and adult sepsis in resource-limited settings. The presented recommendations may help to improve sepsis management in middle- and low-income countries.

Dataset Information

Improving the management of sepsis in a district general hospital by implementing the 'Sepsis Six' recommendations.

Publications

Improving the management of sepsis in a district general hospital by implementing the 'Sepsis Six' recommendations.

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