Dear SIRS, we are sorry to say you are ousted but NEWS is that we have made an IMPACT!
AIM:
To increase awareness and recognition about sepsis.
INTRODUCTION
Sepsis is the leading cause of death and is responsible for nearly 44,000 deaths in the UK alone. Therefore, improving compliance of sepsis screening and delivery of sepsis six within one hour was one of our aims in this quality improvement project. Currently, in most hospitals in Wales, NEWS of 3 is being used as an early warning system to identify acutely unwell patients who could potentially be unwell with sepsis. There is evidence to show that NEWS of 6 is associated with more likely rapid deterioration if they are septic. Therefore, we wanted to show improvement in this group of patients.
METHODS
This study was conducted in a single centre University Teaching Hospital Emergency Department that sees approximately 100,000 patients annually. SeGMED (Sepsis Group Morriston Emergency Department) was formed in 2016. Our mission statement was, “To inspire, educate and promote early recognition, treatment and management of sepsis”. The group incorporates receptionists, a data analyst, Health Care Assistants, Staff nurses, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, junior doctors, a registrar and a consultant. Sepsis has now become a part of the departmental mandatory teaching. We have developed a new sepsis screening tool, created a staff notice board with weekly updates, compliance charts, star of the week and pictures of the SeGMED group for staff to communicate. Since the groups’ creation in 2016, we have done four sepsis awareness days. We had prominent guest speakers and patients who have had their lives affected by sepsis come and narrate their side of the story. The whole process has helped us improve our screening tool and also improve compliance.
RESULTS
The results are from patients registered between June 2017 to February 2018, a total of 9 months. Our data showed steady progress. There was a dramatic increase in screening tools being commenced from 305 per month in June 2017 to nearly 700 a month in December 2017. For patients with NEWS ≥ 6 there was a 27% increase in patients receiving all elements of sepsis six. Focussing on the number of septic patients who were given antibiotics within the hour, there was an increase from 35% in June 2017 to 40% in January 2018. In the group with NEWS >6, our 1-hour antibiotic compliance rose from 42% in June 2017 to 47% in February 2018.
CONCLUSION
For nearly 80% of the patient’s sepsis journey begins outside the hospital. Whenever a patient or relative comes to us and asks if one of their relatives or friends could have sepsis because of the visual prompts and awareness around sepsis, we know we have made an impact. Our results are proof that our busy staffs are more aware of sepsis and conscientious of commencing and completing screening forms for one main cause – TO SAVE SOMEONE’S LIFE.
