Incorporation of Clinical Staff Pharmacists in the Emergency Department Sepsis Response at a Single Institution

Sepsis is a medical emergency in which timely, appropriate antibiotic therapy improves patient outcomes. While the addition of emergency department (ED) pharmacists has been found to optimize timely antimicrobial therapy in patients with sepsis, the role of clinical staff pharmacists (CSPs) in the sepsis response has not been studied.

We implemented a process of incorporating CSPs in sepsis antimicrobial management in the ED. To evaluate the accuracy of antimicrobial selection by CSPs with a sepsis antibiotic algorithm and vancomycin dosing nomogram, a retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients with sepsis presenting to the ED from December 3, 2018 through March 31, 2020.

Of the 157 sepsis alerts included in this study, CSPs correctly used the antibiotic selection algorithm in 154 (98%) instances and the vancomycin dosing nomogram in 147 (94%) instances.

A process incorporating CSPs into the ED sepsis response resulted in high rates of accuracy for antibiotic selection and vancomycin dosing.