Integrating Technology into Sepsis Education

Purpose:
To advance nurses understanding of sepsis and clarify roles in the screening of patients who meet SIRS criteria based on an electronic clinician decision support notification.

Significance:
Over 240 people died in in our institution in 2010 from sepsis. To affect change we utilized our Electronic Medical Record system and identified the initial screening process for the nurse.Evaluation of this change revealed poor compliance,comprehension and resistance of nurses to act on the alert.

Strategy and Implementation:
Examination of sepsis initiative outcome measures prompted staff reassessment.Surveys revealed nurses felt the initial mandatory eLearning focused more on the computer click,and less on the nurse's role with screening and intervention.This resulted in thr creation of an inovative interactive curriculum to inform nurses of their role. The traditional format of lecture presentation was transformed. For a change to occur nurses needed education in realistic practice situations.This is a challenge for a teaching hospital with 1800 nurses.To meet this,vignettes of nurses caring for patients at all stages of sepsis were developed.Creating the opportunity for nurses to observe and document their assessments utilizing the EMR as they would at the patient's bedside.Following this exercise, debriefing sessions focus on decision-making processes,and role expectations,built upon previously learned knowledge fostering realization of the nurses role in decreasing sepsis mortality.

Evaluation:
Since the initiation of this program,sepsis mortality rate has decreased by 13%. Nurse compliance and understanding of their role in screening “at risk”patients has increased by 28%. No longer are nurses questioning whether to act, they are acting, based on the knowledge of their role in the process

Implications for Practice:
The role of the nurse is changing and technology is a vital component of nursing practice. Innovative education focused on the use technology to advance to practice of nursing is essential. We have demonstrated when nurses' use technology to enhance bedside care there are positive patient outcomes.