One of the most powerful tools that we have in raising awareness for quality improvement and patient safety are the stories that patients and their families have. When listening to these stories, such as the Lewis Blackman story, I can’t help but think of the numerous QI initiatives at my institution that could have potentially saved his life. Such initiatives include sepsis huddles, PEWS (the Pediatric Early Warning System), and a streamlined rapid response system. Even in the short amount of time that I have been there, great strides have been taken to both implement and improve these systems. Of course, it is relatively easy to lose sight of the big picture and feel annoyed sometimes when interacting with these systems; I distinctly remember on more than one occasion, nurses apologizing to me in the middle of the night about triggering a sepsis huddles, or calling me about elevated PEWS scores. Ultimately, I hope that we can change this way of thinking because these systems have been validated and are proven to save lives and at the end of the day, what might be a mild inconvenience for me could be life or death for my patient.
