Methodist Hospital Texsan Emergency Department

San Antonio, Texas

The Methodist Hospital Texsan Emergency Department demonstrated nursing excellence through a highly successful sepsis improvement initiative driven by collaboration between nurses, physicians, clinical nurse coordinators and patient care technicians. The team established biweekly sepsis workgroups, implemented a rapid “swarm” response for suspected sepsis patients and developed standardized physician and nursing protocols for earlier identification and treatment. Through a multidisciplinary effort to improve documentation of pre-hospital antibiotic administration, the department achieved a 10.13 percent improvement in sepsis one-hour antibiotic compliance and a 21.37 percent improvement in sepsis three-hour bundle compliance. This initiative strengthened teamwork in the 13-bed department, improved patient outcomes and became a best-practice model adopted across the division.

A strong shared governance culture empowered bedside nurses to lead operational and clinical improvements through the Unit-Based Council. Nurses identified barriers affecting throughput, patient flow and diagnostic efficiency, resulting in innovations such as direct bedding, triage-and-pivot processes, improved urine specimen collection and medication accessibility enhancements. These nurse-led initiatives reduced discharged patient length of stay by 12 minutes over eight quarters and shortened urinalysis turnaround times by five minutes. Staff autonomy, data-driven decision making and continuous performance monitoring fostered accountability and improved patient care.