Quality and safety initiative

Sepsis is a serious blood infection that can be deadly to children. At Children's Hospital of Richmond, we care for children with medical conditions that lead to higher risk of sepsis.  We take the job of diagnosing and treating sepsis very seriously.

How we are improving

We are working hard to identify and treat sepsis as quickly as possible. We have an alert system to help our doctors and nurses recognize children at risk of sepsis as soon as they come to our emergency room. We are also working to ensure that children who need antibiotics and IV fluid get them quickly, usually within one hour of the doctor being concerned about sepsis and ordering antibiotics.

Why it matters to our patients

When we are able to recognize and treat sepsis quickly, children benefit in the following ways:

• They are more likely to recover quickly
• They are less likely to die from sepsis
• They are less likely to go to the intensive care unit
• They will spend less time in the hospital

How we measure

The chart below shows our improvement efforts towards a goal of 70% of children receiving IV antibiotics within an hour of order. The yellow line is our antibiotic rate within an hour and the green line shows our goal rate (higher is better).