Thursday, November 5, 2009

Delivering Excellence

For the past few months, we have been hearing great things about ICU Nurse Paula Ising’s research on severe sepsis and septic shock. Two years ago, Paula began tracking severe sepsis and septic shock patient data. She noticed a trend she felt was significant: in 2 years, we reduced severe sepsis/septic shock deaths by over 50% by implementing bundles & by improving identification and coordination of care. To put it in more human terms: these improvements in the care of septic patients resulted in 41 lives saved in 2008.

Paula wrote an abstract, “Effect of Intermittent vs. Continuous ScvO2 Monitoring on Sepsis Bundle Compliance and Mortality”, which was submitted to the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) for the CHEST 2009 conference (the annual meeting for ACCP). Not only was the abstract accepted for presentation at the conference but she is a semifinalist for an Alfred Soffer Research Award. This year they accepted over 800 abstracts and only13 authors were nominated as semifinalists for the award. Semifinalists are evaluated on the basis of their written abstract and the quality of their oral presentation during CHEST 2009. Award recipients are selected for their outstanding original scientific research by judges from the Scientific Presentations and Awards committee of the ACCP. Paula is one of 4 finalists to receive this award. The abstract has been published in CHEST Journal. Dr. Tim Smith from St. Joseph Medical Center and Dr. Steve Simpson from Kansas University Medical Center are working with Paula on a publication for CHEST.

Congratulations to Paula, Dr. Smith, Dr. Simpson and all of the staff on the critical care units. You truly personify our mission of integrity, compassion and unity

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