SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-A Real-Time Monitoring Innovation for Sepsis Screening and Early Management

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The project at Tampa General Hospital addressed persistent challenges in sepsis screening and early treatment, including poor specificity of automated alerts, alarm fatigue, and delays in completing the CMS SEP-1 bundle. The goal was to reduce sepsis mortality in a large academic medical center serving a high-risk patient population.<br /><br />To improve real-time recognition and management, the team developed the TGH CareComm Sepsis tile, a monitoring interface that uses live electronic health record data and rule-based algorithms to track 16 sepsis risk criteria. Patients flagged as potentially septic are prioritized for review by a trained Rapid Response Team (RRT) nurse, who may perform chart review, speak with bedside staff, or assess the patient directly.<br /><br />Once sepsis is diagnosed, the system continues to monitor treatment progress and identifies delays in key interventions such as antibiotic administration and fluid delivery. These delays generate alerts at specific timepoints so the RRT nurse can quickly work with frontline clinicians to remove barriers and improve care. For example, if antibiotics are ordered but not administered within one hour, the system triggers a flag for follow-up.<br /><br />In the first six months after implementation (August 2022 to February 2023), inpatient SEP-1 bundle compliance improved from 27% to 48%. During the same period, average sepsis mortality for DRGs 870–872 decreased to 11.04%, compared with 13.52% in the prior fiscal year. Early mortality within 48 hours also fell from 5.23% to 4.30%.<br /><br />An important observation was that the tile identified many deteriorating patients who were not subsequently diagnosed with sepsis, suggesting the tool may be useful for broader detection of inpatient decline beyond sepsis alone.

Asset Subtitle

Jaimie L. Weber

Meta Tag

Author List Anish Patel, Brooke Bull, Chris Conn, Douglas J. McConnell, Horacio Figueroa, Jaimie L. Weber, Jehoshua J. Chang, Jennifer N. Naylor, Joaquin Parrilla@tgh.org, Kelly Cullen, LAURA Haubner, Peggy M. Duggan, Peter Chang

Category Innovations

Concept Sepsis Monitoring Interface

Concept Suspected Sepsis

Concept SEP-1 Compliance

Concept At-Risk Patient

Concept Rapid Response Team

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Tampa General Hospital

Presenting Author Jaimie L. Weber

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

sepsis screening

early treatment

alarm fatigue

electronic health record

rapid response team

SEP-1 bundle

mortality reduction

clinical alerts

antibiotic delay

patient deterioration

Sepsis Monitoring Interface

Suspected Sepsis

SEP-1 Compliance

At-Risk Patient

Rapid Response Team