An Acute Care Sepsis Response System Targeting Improved Antibiotic Administration

Area of Science:

• Pediatric critical care medicine
• Healthcare quality improvement science
• Infectious disease management

Background:

• Pediatric sepsis quality improvement is established in emergency departments but less understood in acute care settings.
• Optimal sepsis management strategies for non-ICU inpatient units require further investigation.
• Current approaches lack tailored interventions for the unique complexities of acute care environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the timely administration of initial antibiotics for pediatric sepsis cases on acute care units.
• To increase the proportion of sepsis cases receiving antibiotics within 60 minutes of order by 20% (from 43% to 52%).
• To implement and evaluate a novel sepsis response system for acute care settings.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Model for Improvement framework with extensive stakeholder involvement.
• Developed and deployed targeted interventions for sepsis management on acute care units.
• Analyzed process and outcome data using statistical process control charts and descriptive statistics.

Main Results:

• The proportion of sepsis patients receiving antibiotics within 60 minutes increased from 43% to 64%.
• Interventions demonstrated statistically significant improvements in antibiotic order-to-administration time.
• Out of 187 patients, 66% required ICU transfer and 4% mortality was observed.

Conclusions:

• Successfully reduced antibiotic order-to-administration time for pediatric sepsis in acute care.
• Introduced an innovative sepsis response model addressing acute care setting complexities.
• Achieved significant local improvements, contributing valuable data to quality improvement efforts in under-reported settings.