Sepsis Alliance Clinical Community Roundtable: Sepsis Program Performance Improvement - Part 2

July 28, 2022

Roundtable Description: 

In this follow-up to January's peer-to-peer roundtable discussion (viewable here), Sepsis Alliance Clinical Community members will continue to discuss the key components of robust sepsis performance improvement programs and share the successes and challenges they have experienced with their own programs. Discussion topics will include panelists’ current program structures, protocols, EHR tools, best practice alerts, code sepsis / rapid response benefits, metrics, and education strategies. Panelists will share what has worked at their institutions, where they still struggle to show improvement, and how to continue to garner buy-in and maintain engagement despite staffing issues, burnout, and the high numbers of travel nurses and locums' physicians at many healthcare organizations around the nation. Panelist participation is limited to select Sepsis Alliance Clinical Community members, though all are welcome to attend the discussion.

Target Audience

Nurses, advanced practice providers, physicians, emergency responders, pharmacists, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, physical/occupational therapists, infection prevention specialists, data/quality specialists, and more. 

Learning Objectives

At the end of the activity, the learner will be able to:

  • Identify key components of a robust sepsis performance improvement program;   
  • Discuss key components, challenges, and barriers of sepsis performance improvement initiatives and programs; 
  • Review potential new protocols, resources, and tools to help elevate their own sepsis performance improvement programs; 
  • Identify strategies to garner and maintain healthcare team engagement despite staffing shortages and burnout.  

Sepsis Alliance gratefully acknowledges the support provided for this roundtable by the Sepsis Alliance Clinical Community sponsors. 

Course summary
Available credit: 
  • 1.50 Participation
  • 1.80 RN CE Contact Hours
    Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17068.
Course opens: 
06/23/2022
Course expires: 
12/31/2025
Event starts: 
07/28/2022 - 10:00am PDT
Event ends: 
07/28/2022 - 11:30am PDT
Rating: 
5

Pat Posa RN, BSN, MSA, CCRN-K, FAAN 

Quality and Patient Safety Program Manager 

UH/CVC, Michigan Medicine 

Pat Posa is the Quality and Patient Safety Program Manager for UH/CVC at Michigan Medicine. In this role, she is responsible for development, measurement and sustainability of the UH/CVC segment quality and patient safety program. Most recently, Pat was a Quality Excellence Leader for St. Joseph Mercy Health System in Southeastern Michigan, leading initiatives to reduce hospital-acquired conditions, improve patient outcomes for critically ill patients, and reduce readmissions. She also works as the Population Health Clinical Integration Leader. In this role she has implemented a risk prediction tool and associated interventions within the hospital and post-acute settings. She also works as a Quality Excellence Leader for St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. She has held various roles in healthcare in the hospital, ambulatory setting, and health plan over her 40 years in practice, including manager of inpatient critical care units, Director of Nursing, and administrator of an outpatient multispecialty/primary care clinic. Pat has been involved in many quality and patient safety programs such as hospital- and system-wide sepsis management programs and a statewide Keystone ICU patient safety initiative. She has served on the faculty for multiple state and national clinical collaboratives including the Surviving Sepsis Campaign Phase IV Collaborative, the national project on Comprehensive Unit Safety Program (CUSP) for Mechanically Ventilated Patients, and Society of Critical Care Medicine’s ICU Liberation Collaborative. Through Pat's leadership, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital was awarded the HHS / Critical Care Societies Outstanding Leadership in Eliminating CLABSI and VAP in 2011. She was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in 2013. Pat was also awarded the Michigan Hospital Association Quality and Patient Safety Leadership Award in 2017. Pat has published many articles in both clinical and quality journals. She lectures and consults extensively nationally on sepsis, critical care, patient safety, and quality topics. Pat received a Bachelor in Nursing from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan and her Masters of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17068 for 1.8 contact hours.

Other healthcare providers will receive a certificate of attendance for 1.5 contact hours.

Medical Disclaimer

The information on or available through this site is intended for educational purposes only. Sepsis Alliance does not represent or guarantee that information on or available through this site is applicable to any specific patient’s care or treatment. The educational content on or available through this site does not constitute medical advice from a physician and is not to be used as a substitute for treatment or advice from a practicing physician or other healthcare provider. Sepsis Alliance recommends users consult their physician or healthcare provider regarding any questions about whether the information on or available through this site might apply to their individual treatment or care.

Available Credit

  • 1.50 Participation
  • 1.80 RN CE Contact Hours
    Provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP17068.
Please login or register to take this course.

To register for this roundtable, please follow these steps:

  1. If you have a Sepsis Alliance Institute account, select Login. If you do not yet have an account, select Register to create your FREE account. 
  2. Select Take Course. Answer the additional registration questions, then select Take Course.
    • You will receive a confirmation email from the Sepsis Alliance Institute after registration as well as a Zoom confirmation email. These emails will include a calendar invitation to add to your email calendar.
  3. Click Start under the Roundtable (Via Zoom) tab in the course outline to complete your registration. 
  4. When it is time to join the webinar, select Roundtable (Via Zoom). Select Join the webinar. The Zoom window will pop up and you will see the webinar as you normally would. 
  5. After the webinar, come back to this activity to complete the Evaluation. You'll be able to download your certificate immediately after the webinar.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to us at info@sepsisinstitute.org with any questions.