Authors: Mr Bing Yin LEE , Ms. Sun Fei LI , Dr. Kathleen ROTHERAY

Abstract

Sepsis has been regarded as one of the cardinal causes of death across the globe. Its significance and time-critical nature accounted for 20% of worldwide deaths, according to a 2024 WHO study. As for the Hong Kong condition, Ling et al. have documented a 21% surge in incidence and 1-in-4 deaths from 2009 – 2018 in the Intensive Care Unit of Hong Kong, leading to a major health burden to society. Emergency Department (ED) Nurses as the ‘gatekeeper’ for various life-threatening diseases, while it appears not to be the case in the ‘Hour-1-Sepsis Bundle', judging by its low compliance rate. Nevertheless, various studies focused on Sepsis management instead of reviewing knowledge, attitude, and self-reported competencies of ED Nurses towards Sepsis screening, or implementing educational programs prompting early identification of Sepsis in the ED 

This is a single-center interventional study conducted in the ED of Kwong Wah Hospital. 70 eligible ED Nurses were recruited between October 2024 and January 2025. This study consists of 3 phases: Pre-Test, Educational Program, Post-test, and 1-month post-test. After the questionnaire study, they were invited to the SEPSIS For Nurses program tailored to them and asked to complete the same questionnaires immediately after and 1 month after the program.

A total of 70 eligible ED nurses were recruited for the 5-month study. 60 completed measurements at all points. The most significant change was the Knowledge gain, with +7.91 marks reported, followed by the shift in the attitude and competencies scale. This shows that the education program has a positive relationship with knowledge gain, as evidenced by a W-value of 92 and a p-value less than 0.0001. It has also been reassured that, after attending the program, the respondents show greater confidence and willingness to identify and manage Sepsis patients promptly and appropriately (Attitude = +4.5). The loss of knowledge after one month was also recorded, and it was negligible.

This study proves that a structured education program significantly improves ED nurses' knowledge of Sepsis screening. It improves the attitude and self-reported competencies of ED nurses towards sepsis management. The year of experience has a negligible effect on the change in knowledge score.

Keywords: Sepsis, Nursing Education, Emergency Nursing, Sepsis Screening