Redefining Sepsis with Michael Ackerman

Oct 12, 2019

Sepsis is not an infection. Rather, it’s your body's overwhelming reaction to an infection and can lead to some serious health issues. In fact, sepsis is the #1 cause of death for patients in hospitals.

Sepsis definitions and protocols have been around for some time, but have been undergoing major changes. Additionally, sepsis is under scrutiny from CMS at the federal level and is subject to public reporting in many states. All of this, plus the importance of quickly diagnosing and treating the condition puts clinicians in a difficult spot. Many times they’ll find themselves treating to the protocol, even when their clinical instincts suggest something else.

In that regard, sepsis proves to be a very instructive topic in our never-ending quest to unravel the business of healthcare.

On this episode, we’ll talk with Michael Ackerman who’s Director of the Master in Healthcare Innovation Program and Professor of Clinical Nursing at The Ohio State University. Michael is an expert on the topic who speaks on it across the country. He’ll help us understand what we’re up against and why it’s so complicated from both a clinical and administrative standpoint. We discuss:

1. What is sepsis?
2. How is sepsis diagnosed?
3. Why it’s so important to diagnose and treat quickly.
4. Why protocols and definitions continue to change.
5. How new definitions of sepsis seem to be at odds with public reporting.
6. How this impacts the clinicians and their ability to treat.
7. How public reporting and media impact the approach.
8. How proper identification and treatment impact healthcare costs.
9. Why we need to focus on quality, but can’t ignore the patient experience, the costs of care or the value that you bring to that care.
10. What it all means to the patient and how we can protect ourselves.
11. Why hospital administrators need to take the long-view.
12. How a Sepsis-team can drive tremendous value to the hospital.
13. The importance of incorporating new technology.

 

This episode originally aired on The #HCBiz Show! on May 3rd, 2017.

 

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