Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body’s response to an infection. The body normally releases chemicals into the bloodstream to combat infection. Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to these chemicals is out of balance, triggering changes that can damage multiple organ systems.
Salem Medical Center’s Quality Department — led by Director of Quality Faith Needleman, MSN, RN — takes every precaution to make sure a patient’s time here is the safest it can be.
Needleman recently attended a New Jersey Hospital Association Sepsis Seminar in Princeton, NJ. Representatives from hospitals and other healthcare facilities from throughout the state attended the seminar and shared their work to collaborate in improving Sepsis care.
Each hospital in attendance presented a poster highlighting ways to prevent and reduce Sepsis.
SMC’s poster titled, “Sepsis Care in Vulnerable Patient Populations” includes information about ways to prevent the infection.
Some of SMC’s work highlighted on the poster is the formation of a Sepsis Committee and the “Green Card Communication Tool” — a Sepsis 3-Hour Bundle worksheet.
Sepsis patient information is filled in on the Green Card in an effort to continually improve the 3-hour Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock bundle compliance target.
The Sepsis Committee, led by Dr. Hussein Kiliddar, Department of Medicine Chair, together with the Critical Care Committee, reviews Sepsis data to determine the hospital’s rates, and plan a strategy to meet their goals.
“We drew a lot of interest from the bigger hospitals in North Jersey because of how we approach Sepsis control in our smaller, community setting,” Needleman said. “The big, academic centers have many teams and resources. We are smaller scale here.”
Needleman was assisted in the poster project by Dr. Kiliddar, ICU/Emergency/Medical Surgical and Nursing teams, Health Information Management Coders, Pharmacy, and Physicians.
The Quality Department monitors potential patient safety concerns brought to them from staff members, patients or visitors. The department is the liaison between the hospital and most state accrediting agencies, and ensures physician-nurse collaboration on various committees that monitor safety issues.