Code Sepsis Intervention: A Case Study

Code Sepsis Intervention

Practicum has been a great opportunity for me to connect and integrate all the knowledge I have acquired through out this program into a more effectively clinical practice. The way I came to realize this was during one of my shifts where I was exposed to a difficult situation but thanks to my skills I was able to proceed in a safety manner. The purpose of this journal entry is to describe how my intervention made a difference in the client outcome and a brief explanation of the competencies and skills used.

During a morning shift with my preceptor, we were sent to float to a med surge floor. Once we arrived to the floor, we immediately got report for our seven patients. There was one particular patient that caught

Basically, this program focuses on early identification of patient at risk for sepsis by working with each nursing unit to help identify signs of sepsis. Once a patient shows symptoms, a “ Code Sepsis ” is called and treatment implemented (communitynewspapers.com, 2016). In this particular incident, once the team arrived to the room, they decided to implement the Resuscitation Bundle for Severe sepsis. Immediately, my nurse and I started to complete all the orders within an hour, which is the time frame set for completion of treatment. During my intervention in this case, my main concern was to carry the orders within the timeframe to avoid the patient to go into septic shock. A patient is at great risk of Septic shock if severe hypotension is present and lactic acid is more than 4 mmo/L (Gray et al., 2013). I started infusing the fluids and the antibiotic as soon as possible and continue monitoring my patient’s vitals every two hours as ordered. As soon as I saw that the blood pressure was within normal limits, I knew that this patient was far from a septic

I realized that the previous nurse was not able to see what was happening because she barely assessed the patient during her shift. In addition, she failed to take into consideration the opinion of the caregiver. Once I start practicing, I plan to incorporate best practice guidelines to the care of my patients. Also, this experience gave me the opportunity to practice my skills and to test my ability to think critically in emergency situations. The most demanding aspect of this experience for me was to carry the interventions on my own. Although my preceptor was by my side, he wanted to make sure I was capable of doing everything alone. I believed that the preparation I received in this seven semester of nursing school was key for my success in this scenario. At the end of that shift, I received many complements from other nurses, staff, and even the attending doctor. My preceptor was very proud of me, and told me in front of everybody that my intervention with that patient demonstrates that I am ready to be on my