Sepsis Day at Sinai Hospital's Emergency Department

It's not something people usually like to talk about, but thanks to some creative thinking the topic of preventing and treating sepsis became something the team in the emergency department at Sinai Hospital gladly discussed.

The "˜Sepsis Day' initiative on Jan. 16 was championed by Diane Bongiovanni, the director of patient care services; Amanda Shrout, director of clinical excellence; and Ashley Yousefian, patient safety outcomes coordinator with the support of Linda Kosnik, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer.

The most significant thing during the day was the need to drive home the importance of staying on top of the latest core measures, procedures and actions surrounding this very serious condition. Sepsis is caused when someone's bloodstream becomes inflamed while his or her body is trying to fight off an infection. The condition is severe and can cause organs to shut down.

Participants took part in educational sessions and discussions geared toward providing the most up-to-date materials and data about sepsis: how to recognize it, how to diagnose it and how to treat it. They also reviewed the actions that need to be taken if a code sepsis is called in Sinai's emergency department.

Key points included:

• Using Sinai's electronic sepsis alert system to prompt the use of the hospital's sepsis checklist
• Applying the sepsis checklist to assess the criteria and decide if a code sepsis is indicated
• Giving every provider in the ED the power to call the sepsis code
• Completing the checklist once the code is in effect to ensure compliance

However, there was a bit of a lighter side as well. When the team took needed breaks, the organizers came up with upbeat ways to keep the participants engaged. There were challenges and games relating to sepsis information as well as music, snacks and stress balls for everyone.