AHA

In 2012, following the avoidable death of 12-year-old Rory Staunton in a New York City hospital, New York became the first state in the nation to pass a law mandating all hospitals to adopt and train their health care professionals in best practices for early identification and treatment of sepsis, and to publically report sepsis mortality data. Lutheran Medical Center, a 450-bed hospital located in Brooklyn, N.Y, had participated in a regional sepsis improvement program. However, the hospital felt that it could further improve its outcomes and better prepare to successfully meet the new state mandate, reduce mortality and improve overall quality of care.

An innovative and integrated approach to performance improvement is the key to implementation of evidence-based guidelines and new sepsis regulations. Dr. David Tompkins, an infectious diseases physician and co-chair of the Lutheran Medical Center Sepsis Steering Committee, will describe the process the medical center implemented, including an interactive, simulation-based program and the clinical results it achieved. He will also emphasize the importance of ongoing efforts to support early identification and timely management of sepsis patients for reduced mortality and acuity.

You Will Learn:

• Top strategies you should put into place to prepare for sepsis regulations
• How individual health care provider knowledge of and accountability to sepsis evidence-based practice is critical to patient care
• The best practices for increasing staff compliance with sepsis evidence-based guidelines
• How to reduce patient acuity through early recognition and improved treatment