Date of Award
Summer 7-21-2021
Document Type
Scholarly Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Department
Nursing
First Advisor
Robin Kirschner
Abstract
Globally, various researchers have suggested that sepsis is one of the most prominent causes of infant fatalities. Since 2004, countless guidelines have been developed to assist in the early identification and management of sepsis. The PICOT question that guided this project was: Does the implementation of a pediatric sepsis clinical pathway, compared with the standard protocol in emergency departments, decrease delays in treatment times of patients presenting with sepsis? Researchers have suggested that early recognition and interventions for septic patients can result in decreased mortality rates. A pediatric sepsis clinical pathway was implemented during this project. The pathway alerted staff members when a pediatric patient was experiencing sepsis-related symptoms. The pathway included various interventions (e.g., administration of intravenous fluids and antibiotics) and treatment goals (i.e., treatment within 60 minutes of arrival time) for clinical staff members to employ with potential septic patients. The implementation of this intervention resulted in earlier pediatric sepsis recognition and a decrease in delay in the treatment of sepsis symptoms. Implementing a protocol that is specific to pediatric patients presenting to the emergency department for sepsis can increase the recognition of sepsis symptoms and can also decrease treatment times. Implementing this protocol may also decrease patient length of stays and can possibly decrease the propensity of organ damage and other sepsis- related complications.
Recommended Citation
Lampkin-Smiley, R. (2021). Pediatric Sepsis-Development of a Clinical Pathway for the Pediatric Emergency Department. [Doctoral project, University of St Augustine for Health Sciences]. SOAR @ USA: Student Scholarly Projects Collection. https://doi.org/10.46409/sr.OIHO6908
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Scholarly project submitted to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice.