Improving door-to-needle times for patients with suspected neutropenic sepsis
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence & Practice Previous     Next

Improving door-to-needle times for patients with suspected neutropenic sepsis

Tracy Wild Macmillan nurse clinician, Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Radiotherapy, The Christie at Oldham, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Oldham, England

Neutropenic sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of chemotherapy and has an associated mortality of 2% to 21%. Patients can deteriorate rapidly and are usually advised to attend their local emergency department (ED) for urgent assessment and antibiotic therapy within one hour of arrival. Delivery of this emergency care is, however, inconsistent, and at times suboptimal, due to a lack of awareness of the condition and of clinical expertise.

This article discusses a collaborative project between an acute oncology service and an ED, which has improved and sustained compliance with this standard through a range of initiatives, including revised and integrated sepsis guidelines, education, sepsis champions and a fast-track patient pathway. A transformational leadership approach, which embraced collaborative working and fostered motivation by creating ownership of the project by the ED team, has been instrumental in its success.

Emergency Nurse. 25, 7, 24-30. doi: 10.7748/en.2017.e1755

Correspondence

tracy.wild@christie.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

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Received: 28 June 2017

Accepted: 13 September 2017

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