SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-A Focused Intervention to Improve Sepsis Care

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This project from the University of Florida College of Medicine focused on improving sepsis care in a large academic hospital medicine division. Sepsis is a high-burden, costly, and deadly condition, and the team aimed to improve compliance with CMS Sepsis Core Measures, starting from a baseline pass rate of 32% in July 2017.<br /><br />A multi-level intervention was implemented. First, a division-level sepsis committee was created with physicians and a quality specialist to review failed cases weekly and provide direct feedback. Second, the team developed EMR tools, including a sepsis order set to standardize timely labs, nursing orders, and antibiotics, plus a note template to improve assessment and documentation. They also emphasized better shift-to-shift handoffs for ongoing sepsis evaluations. Third, they created updated educational materials, provided annual best-practice education to current and new physicians, and sent individualized feedback emails with clinical guidance after failed cases.<br /><br />Using SPSS, the authors analyzed changes over time with one-way ANOVA using Welch’s statistic and Games-Howell post-hoc testing. Results showed a rapid doubling of pass rates within the first year and continued steady improvement over subsequent years. By 2021, the mean pass rate reached 87.3% and the median was 87.5%, with statistically significant improvement overall (Welch ANOVA p = 0.000).<br /><br />The authors concluded that a multidisciplinary, front-line physician-led approach can substantially improve sepsis core measure performance. They emphasized that direct chart review and peer-to-peer feedback were especially important for identifying gaps, increasing buy-in, and sustaining process improvement. Future plans include refining order sets and expanding the model to other hospital services.

Asset Subtitle

Nicolas N. Kattan

Meta Tag

Author List Maryna Balduyeva, Mohammad Al-Khdarat, Neha Solanky, Nicolas N. Kattan, Nila S. Radhakrishnan

Category Research

Concept Sepsis

Concept SEP-1

Concept Sepsis Burden

Concept Quality Improvement

Concept Sepsis Quality Improvement

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of Florida

Presenting Author Nicolas N. Kattan

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

sepsis

CMS Sepsis Core Measures

quality improvement

academic hospital medicine

EMR tools

sepsis order set

physician-led committee

peer feedback

chart review

hospital performance

Sepsis

SEP-1

Sepsis Burden

Quality Improvement

Sepsis Quality Improvement