Goal: To assess a clinical issue that is the focus of the Quality Improvement Project. Evaluate the clinical project. Putting it all together for the final Quality Improvement Project. Con

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SWOT Analysis of Sepsis

SWOT analysis would involve analyzing thee strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of sepsis as a clinical issue in the healthcare industry. Consequently, this would serve to form the basis of providing foundation for an action plan for quality improvement of sepsis. One of the biggest strengths regarding sepsis is that its screening has aided in saving many lives today. According to data from the National Library of Medicine, sepsis screening has aided in reducing the mortality rate (Kim & Park, 2019). Reduced mortality rate has been attributed to the early identification and treatment of sepsis. Undeniably, sepsis screening has been enhanced through use of tools such as the systemic inflammatory response system (SIRS). Further, these sepsis screening tools have enhanced efficiency and effectiveness in terms of detecting sepsis.

For these reason, morbidity and mortality rates related to sepsis have massively reduced thus improving the overall efficiency of health systems globally. However, despite the strength, there exist weaknesses regarding the clinical issue of sepsis. For instance, one of the biggest weaknesses has been the issue of non-compliance especially of bedside nurses completing the sepsis screening. Bedside nurses refer to healthcare professionals who handle the personal healthcare issues of patients. In this scenario, this has always led to delays in utilization and positive impacts of sepsis bundle. Delayed sepsis bundle would then increase the risk of progression to septic shock. It is crucial to point out that delayed septic bundle is linked to a more than twofold rise in mortality rates of patients with sepsis after onset. On the flip side, sepsis as a clinical issue has presented numerous opportunities for healthcare professionals, patients and the system itself. First, reducing mortality rates related to sepsis is one of the most significant aspects that can be explored by healthcare professionals globally.

To achieve this, the healthcare system and professionals must leverage on boosting early detection and treatment of sepsis to help save many lives globally (Carr, 2018). On top of this, there opportunity to develop a fast-acting treatment plan for sepsis without considering the source of the infection has present itself to the global healthcare system. Additionally, there still exist threats when dealing with the clinical issue of sepsis. Patients in today’s healthcare system are at an increased risk of sepsis. A classic example would be patients undergoing foley catherer as this would increase the risk of sepsis (Melzer & Welch, 2017). On top of this, patients would be at risk of an infection that can then lead to sepsis and this can also be attributed to time spent by a patient in hospital.

Action Plan for Quality Improvement

It would be essential to integrate the systemic inflammatory response system (SIRS), as an analytical tool bas it has proven to be effective in undertaking of screening of patients to effectively and efficiently detect and identify sepsis. Over time, SIRS has remained to be one of the most commonly utilized sepsis screening tool when identifying septic patients. Additionally, it is important apart from using SIRS, healthcare professionals ought to diversify their analytical frameworks when detecting and identifying sepsis (Ebai, 2017). Apart from focusing all efforts and actions plans in the healthcare environment, there is need to also focus on the outside. Specifically, there is need to accelerate sessions and training to parents and communities in terms of sepsis awareness and this can be accelerated through use of social media as a means of communication. Eventually, sepsis awareness would aid in timely and effective response to sepsis thus saving many lives in the short and long run. To sum up, investing in research and development of technologies aimed at boosting detection and identification of sepsis would be a game changer in improving health outcomes of patients in the long run.

Reference

The action plan for the sepsis education quality improvement project includes firstly, developing educational materials for patients, families, and caregivers on the signs and symptoms of sepsis and the importance of seeking medical help early (Afshar et al., 2019). Develop and implement educational programs for healthcare providers on the latest sepsis guidelines. Increase awareness of sepsis among patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare providers (De la Perrelle et al., 2020). Evaluate the effectiveness of the sepsis education quality improvement project. The proposed implementation timeline for the project includes phase one which will take three months and would include developing educational materials. The second phase will take six months and will include the implementation of educational programs. The final phase in the implementation includes an evaluation of the project that will take up to nine months.

References

Afshar, M., Arain, E., Ye, C., Gilbert, E., Xie, M., Lee, J., Churpek, M. M., Durazo-Arvizu, R., Markossian, T., & Joyce, C. (2019). Patient Outcomes and Cost-Effectiveness of a Sepsis Care Quality Improvement Program in a Health System*. Critical Care Medicine, 47(10), 1371–1379. https://doi.org/10.1097/ccm.0000000000003919

De la Perrelle, L., Radisic, G., Cations, M., Kaambwa, B., Barbery, G., & Laver, K. (2020). Costs and economic evaluations of Quality Improvement Collaboratives in healthcare: a systematic review. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-4981-5

Hughes, M. C., Roedocker, A., Ehli, J., Walz, D., Froehlich, K., White, L., & Binder, B. (2019). A Quality Improvement Project to Improve Sepsis-Related Outcomes at an Integrated Healthcare System. Journal for Healthcare Quality, 41(6), 1. https://doi.org/10.1097/jhq.0000000000000193

McNab, D., Freestone, J., Black, C., Carson-Stevens, A., & Bowie, P. (2018). Participatory design of an improvement intervention for the primary care management of possible sepsis using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method. BMC Medicine, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1164-x

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1. Identify the clinical issue that will be the focus of your Quality Improvement project.

The importance of undertaking and implementing quality improvement project in the healthcare environment cannot be understated. It would serve to boost the performance in a specific healthcare environment. Optimization of sepsis care is the first clinical issue that the quality improvement project would focus on. Sepsis is becoming a major health concern globally as there is high risk of death when one gets it. Specifically, delayed sepsis identification has been one of the biggest impediments to achieving desirable health outcomes among patients. However, integrating an analytical system as part of the quality improvement project will help in optimizing sepsis care. Specifically, this will involve early identification of sepsis through use of a robust data-driven approach. Developing this type of analytical system such as machine learning would help clinicians to have real-time actionable data that will then aid in boost early detection of sepsis (Klompas et al., 2020). Consequently, requisite health interventions would be implemented. On top of this, there would be rapid intervention concerning severe sepsis and this will help reduce mortality and improve health outcomes among patients. One of the most significant challenges when dealing with sepsis is that scientists have not been able to come up with an approved medicine that can help in targeting the impaired or aggressive immune system. For this reason, the need for clinicians to have access to high quality and robust analytical systems aimed at detecting sepsis would be crucial.

2. Provide rationale for the need to change the status quo.

Additionally, the current status quo with respect to sepsis is that there is lack of a robust analytical system aimed at detecting and identifying sepsis at an early stage. Globally, there is an ongoing debate especially in the healthcare industry regarding the exact timing of treatment for sepsis. In this perspective, incorporating a robust early detection and identification system for sepsis can be vital in boosting sepsis survival rates globally. Clinicians are the first line of care especially for patients who are at a critical stage of sepsis. There exist various reasons why there is need to shift from the status quo regarding sepsis and implement actionable, efficient and robust analytical frameworks for sepsis. First, it will aid in saving many lives of people affected by sepsis. The analytical system will aid in early detection, identification and diagnosis of sepsis by clinicians thus boosting survival rates and achieve desirable outcomes among patients. The cost of treating sepsis especially at later stages can be very high. Increased cost can make many patients shy away from accessing such care as they cannot afford it. However, early detection and diagnosis is not expensive and in this case, patients would achieve desirable outcomes within a short time (Kim & Park, 2019). Eventually, many lives of patients with sepsis will be saved thus positively impacting families, communities and nations.

3. Identify best practices from the literature related to the issues.

In this, increasing training especially for clinicians and nurses will go a long way in significantly improving sepsis recognition. Specifically, training them on how to use analytical frameworks for sepsis would be very crucial. Secondly, integrating a robust educational framework in sepsis ought to be leveraged by the global health industry to ensure high quality care and standardization. Specifically, the educational programmes anchored on sepsis would incorporate early identification, appropriate prescription and boosting care of patients (Rello & Rubulotta, 2018). Lastly, there is need for increased funding towards research anchored on sepsis to develop and implement high quality treatment plans for patients thus improving health outcomes in the long run.

Reference

Kim, H. I., & Park, S. (2019). Sepsis: Early recognition and optimized treatment.  Tuberculosis and respiratory diseases,  82(1), 6-14.

Klompas, M., Osborn, T. M., & Rhee, C. (2020). Who owns sepsis?  Annals of internal medicine,  172(3), 210-211.