Decreasing Time to Antibiotics for Patients with Sepsis in the Emergency Department

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Patients may present in a spectrum, from nonsevere sepsis through septic shock. Literature supports improvement in patient outcomes with timely care. This project describes an effort to improve delays in antibiotic administration in patients with sepsis spectrum disease presenting to a pediatric emergency department (PED). OBJECTIVE: This project aimed to decrease time to antibiotics for patients with sepsis in the PED from 154 to <120 minutes within 2 years. METHODS: Following the collection of baseline data, we assembled a multidisciplinary team. Specific interventions included staff education, the institution of a best practice alert with order set and standardized huddle response, and local stocking of antibiotics. We included all patients with orders for intravenous antibiotics and blood culture. RESULTS: From April 2015 to April 2017, the PED demonstrated reduction in time to antibiotics from 154 to 114 minutes. The time from emergency department (ED) arrival to antibiotic order also improved, from 87 to 59 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: This initiative improved prioritization and efficiency of care of sepsis, and overall time to antibiotics in this population. The results of this project demonstrate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team working to improve an essential time-driven process.