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Working together to optimise sepsis awareness across care boundaries

Using innovative communication, real patient experience and in-situ simulation to truly optimise the awareness of sepsis across primary and secondary care settings.

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  • Proposal
  • 2019

Meet the team

Also:

  • Kim Smith
  • Christella Williams

What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to your chosen theme?

Sepsis continues to be one of the most prolific killers in the UK, with around 260,000 cases and 52,000 deaths each year. Despite great efforts the improve the recognition and treatment of sepsis in the hosptial, we know that around 70% of sepsis cases come from the community and many sepsis deaths are preventable, almost 14,000 a year.  We now need to work together to concentrate our efforts in preventing deaths from sepsis by focusing on raising the awareness with our GPs, care home staff, community nurses and the general public. Tragic stories we hear every week of young people dying unnecessarily of sepsis because ‘they’d never heard of sepsis’ or ‘didn’t know the signs’ and the number of elderly patients dying from sepsis because it wasn’t recognised quickly enough in the community are all too often. With a better understanding of what sepsis is, how it presents and how to access treatment, we can, together save lives.

What does your project aim to achieve?

The aim of this project is to reduce the number of preventable sepsis deaths here in Milton Keynes. With the use of less conventional training methods currently used in the community settings, such as in-situ simulation, patient led awareness sessions and interactive communication methods, this project aims to improve the awareness and understanding of sepsis amongst primary care givers and the public. It will specifically target our ‘higher’ risk areas, such as nursing homes and GP practices with high risk patient groups.

Using sepsis survivors and their stories has  shown to be hugely successful in engaging health professionals in the hospital, so it is hoped it will have the same impact with our wider community.

Throughout a 12 month period, the objective is to offer inter-professional, flexible, role specific training to all the GP surgeries (31) and NHS Funded nursing homes (15) in Milton Keynes and introduce the use of NEWS2 and sepsis screening tools as clinical decision aids.

How will the project be delivered?

With a collaborative approach with health professionals from the acute trust, sepsis survivors and the skills and simulation team, sepsis training will be offered at various venues and times within Milton Keynes. Flexibility will be the key and ensuring the sessions are innovative, interactive and non-threatening in nature should appeal to most attendees.

Although attendance will not be mandatory, it will be strongly encourgaed and hopefully support will be gained from the local CCG and sepsis leads at each GP practice and NHS funded nursing home. Feedback will be gained from each session and there will be a team debrief after each of the 12 sessions to make the necessary continued improvements and adaptations. Using the skills from other partners within the hospital and Q community, this project should thrive with the enthusiasm and experience of each member.

What and how is your project going to share learning throughout?

If successful, this project could be replicated across the wider system and nationwide. By tapping into the great work of the UK sepsis trust, sepsis survivors and passionate health professionals, improvements can be made to the early recognition and initial treatment of sepsis.

All the learning and adaptions made will be shared and developed to not only save lives from sepsis, but this model of inter-professional training could be applied to other areas of health, such as diabetes and stroke.

How you can contribute

  • Support with engaging primary care givers
  • Data anaylsis support
  • Expertise in leading initiatives that involve interprofessional education and cross boundary working.

Plan timeline

14 Nov 2019 Confirm order of Lifecast mannequin
2 Dec 2019 Initial team planning meeting
20 Jan 2020 Session 1 - GP Group 1
17 Feb 2020 Session 2 - GP Group 2
23 Mar 2020 Session 3 - Nursing Home Group 1
20 Apr 2020 Session 4 - GP Group 3
18 May 2020 Session 5 - GP Group 4
15 Jun 2020 Session 6 - Nursing Home Group 2
20 Jul 2020 Session 7 - GP Group 5
17 Aug 2020 Session 8 - GP Group 6
21 Sep 2020 Session 9 - Nursing Home Group 3
19 Oct 2020 Session 10 - GP Group 7
16 Nov 2020 Session 11 - GP Group 8
14 Dec 2020 Session 12 - Nursing Home Group 4
21 Dec 2020 Project end review and future planning

Comments

  1. Dear Anna,

    it’s great to see your idea here. Have you connected with other Q’s with experience of work in sepsis? Fellow Q Lesley Jordan from the RUH at Bath has done some really powerful work in this area and has inputted into work at regional level too. She’s lovely and may we’ll be a source of good ideas for you.

    good luck

    best wishes

    Anna

     

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