Every Minute Matters
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Christian Larsen |
When Captain Chesley Sullenberger and the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 performed the "miracle on the Hudson" after bird strikes took out both engines, every minute mattered.
Listening to the cockpit recordings of those defining moments are an inspiring call to action for those of us in health care. The flight crew was prepared, plans for such an emergency were in place, communication was crisp and clear, checklists were followed, decisions were made, and the skill and expertise of every team member brought all 155 passengers and crew members home safely.
Likewise, in the fight for survival after sepsis strikes, minutes matter. More than 258,000 people in the United States die from this condition annually, according to the CDC, which recently declared sepsis a medical emergency. As a national and regional resource for patients with complex and critical illnesses, our Emory care teams know well that sepsis is a constant threat.
Led by clinical nurse specialist Mary Still and intensivists David Murphy and Craig Coopersmith, our Emory teams have developed early sepsis detection systems and rapid response protocols, supported by computerized order sets and systematic monitoring of our process reliability and outcomes.
As you will read, our teams relentlessly pursue the development of better care with a zero-defects mentality. Coopersmith is not only taking the lead in redefining sepsis care at Emory, he is a coauthor of the new national guidelines for sepsis care published in the February 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And, as an ICU nurse who understands the importance of minute-to-minute care at the bedside, Still knows well that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Take one of the most common harms experienced by patients in health care settings: bed sores. More than half a million Americans are hospitalized annually for pressure ulcers, many of them frail and elderly.
As Still discovered, having a "turn team" dedicated to repositioning Emory surgical ICU patients every two hours had a dramatic impact. "This simple, easy-to-do, no-cost idea cut our rate of pressure ulcers by 70 percent," Coopersmith says.
Here's to warding off catastrophes by knowing what to do and then doing it, each and every time.
