Educating physicians and other providers on expediting sepsis diagnosis and administration of antibiotics can lead to lower patient mortality as well as lower hospital costs, according to a study in the Journal of Healthcare Quality.
Detroit Medical Center implemented the Surviving Sepsis Campaign, an international effort to form guidelines to improve sepsis treatment through physician education. Four hospitals in the DMC system participated. The education effort led to a improved frequency of blood culture testing prior to administering antibiotics and a 50 percent reduction in time to antibiotic treatment.
"Educating staff is essential to the process of improving patient outcomes, and the results of our study showed the relationship between education and sampling of lactate and blood cultures as well as timeliness of antibiotic treatment," said Maria Teresa Palleschi, RN, DNP, the study's lead author.