Published in:
Open Access
01-04-2014 | Poster presentation
Using process mapping to identify barriers to effective management of sepsis in a cancer hospital: lessons for successful implementation of a whole hospital pathway
Authors:
K Thursky, G Haeusler, B Teh, D Comodo, N Dean, C Brown, J Willis, K Morris, S Lingaratnam, M Slavin, L Worth
Published in:
Critical Care
|
Special Issue 2/2014
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Excerpt
Infection and sepsis are common problems in cancer management affecting up to 45% of patients. However, international guidelines focus on the management of neutropenic fever, and fail to address the recognition and resuscitation of patients who meet sepsis criteria. Peter MacCallum Hospital is a 100 inpatient-bed tertiary cancer hospital with hematology, medical oncology, cancer surgery and radiation oncology, as well as a medical and chemotherapy day unit, apheresis, and large ambulatory service but no emergency department. Records showed that up to 25% of all in-hospital Medical Emergency Team (MET) calls were attributable to sepsis with in-hospital mortality rates of up to 25%. We aimed to identify barriers to effective management of inpatient sepsis at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and to implement a hospital-wide sepsis pathway. …
