Date of Award
Fall 2024
Project Type
Thesis
College or School
CHHS
Department
Nursing
Program or Major
DEMN
Degree Name
Master of Science
First Advisor
Pamela Kallmerten
Second Advisor
Deborah Simonton
Third Advisor
Bronwyn Gallant
Abstract
Background: Sepsis-related deaths outnumber those caused by opioids, breast cancer, and prostate cancer combined (Nguyen, 2020). Sepsis places a significant health burden and cost burden on both an individual and a systemic level, emphasizing the need for proper care of the sepsis patient in all inpatient settings.
Local Problem: Within a medical-surgical microsystem, it was found that care of the sepsis patient was inadequate. A pre-intervention survey was conducted which demonstrated a lack in knowledge of the inpatient sepsis workflow, including use of the sepsis best practice advisory (BPA) within EPIC® and the sepsis bundle of care. Additionally, according to hospital compare, proper care of the sepsis patient within this macrosystem fell short of benchmark across the state where the macrosystem is located.
Methods: This model is based on the Plan, Do, Study, Act model of quality improvement. An assessment of the microsystem and a survey of baseline nursing knowledge about sepsis was conducted during the “plan” phase and an educational poster was posted in the microsystem during the “do” phase.
Interventions: The intervention includes an educational poster presented within the clinical microsystem. Effectiveness of the intervention was analyzed by differences in responses between a pre-intervention nursing knowledge survey and a post-intervention survey.
Results: The specific aim of this project to increase self-reported staff competence and knowledge of the sepsis BPA within EPIC® and the sepsis bundle of care by 10% was achieved based on data collected from the post-intervention survey.
Conclusion: This quality improvement project saw a positive impact in self-reported nursing knowledge of the sepsis BPA in EPIC® and the sepsis bundle of care. This positive impact shows promise for the effect of educational interventions but should be used to design further projects rather than draw definitive conclusions.
Recommended Citation
Maheu, Nicole Elise, "Sepsis Screening and Bundle Adherence: Staff Education as an Intervention to Increase Knowledge in a Medical Surgical Clinical Microsystem" (2024). Master's Theses and Capstones. 1801.
https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/1801