Q: What is the best way of ensuring that antibiotics are administered within an hour?
A: Antibiotics within 1 hour rely on 3 important steps.
- Early RN recognition of sepsis and rapid initiation of the nurse initiated protocol which we call Sepsis Power Hour.
- Just in time physician notification that Sepsis Power Hour treatment has begun so confirmation of treatment and antibiotics are ordered as soon as sepsis is confirmed.
- Concurrent pharmacy notification of antibiotic need without delay.
Designing a process that allows for synchronized and parallel work to be done in a standardized way decreases the time to treatment and saves lives.