Improving Sepsis Compliance With Human Factors Interventions in a Community Hospital Emergency Room

Background: Adherence to best practices for sepsis management at a small community hospital was below system, state, and national benchmarks and affected vital indicators, including mortality. This study aimed to improve sepsis best practice compliance by implementing human factors–influenced interventions. Methods: The Plan-Do-Study-Act quality improvement methodology was used for this project. Baseline metrics included sepsis bundle compliance following CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) core measure standards, hospital morality, sepsis triage screening, and physician order set use. Interventions: Several human factors workflows and tools were used to boost early identification with screening opportunities and enhance staff awareness of sepsis indicators. Results: With the interventions, the hospital’s compliance with sepsis best practice treatment improved by a 23 percentage-point increase from baseline. Sepsis triage screening also increased and remained consistent after project interventions. Conclusions: With the project, using human factors tools enhanced staff engagement and increased sepsis awareness. Engagement increased sepsis identification and screening in a small community hospital setting.