Charles is a nurse on a mission: To fight sepsis, a leading cause of death in US hospitals. Crucially, experts say that 80 percent of sepsis deaths would be preventable with quicker diagnosis and treatment. But because there is no single test for sepsis, in order to bring sepsis deaths down, nurses at the bedside must be vigilant and regularly use sepsis screening and treatment procedures. Unfortunately, because of heavy workloads, sometimes those sepsis protocols get lost in the shuffle. That’s where Charles comes in.
When Charles started his work as the program coordinator, Cedars-Sinai had an organization average of 40 percent nurse compliance with the sepsis procedures. The goal was to get up to the national average of 59 percent. But by rebuilding the program from the ground up, Charles has been able to bring the rate up to 69 percent, saving many lives and improving nursing workflows.
Charles tackled the problem in a single-minded and comprehensive way: He reimagined the entire system, so that the electronic medical record system can track sepsis alerts. Then he formed a rapid response team to follow up on those alerts in person with the nurse caring for the patient in question—those face-to-face check-ins are highly effective in ensuring that the nurse understands and follows the protocol in a timely way.
Charles approaches sepsis awareness with a deft and personable touch. He uses clever and memorable slogans like, “Not Today, Sepsis!” and passes out bags of candy labeled with sepsis checklists. He lectures on sepsis system-wide and often brings in his personal experience as a clinical ICU nurse. In his single-minded determination to fight sepsis, Charles’s impact is immense.