Baptist North Mississippi Wins Quality Award for Sepsis Initiative

Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi recently won Baptist Memorial Health Care’s President’s Quality Award for its sepsis quality initiative.

Members of the Baptist North Mississippi quality team accept the award. Photo provided.

The award is the health care system’s top quality award and is given out annually to the hospital that develops an initiative that transforms and influences quality of care across the entire health care system.

“It was my honor to award Baptist North Mississippi the 2019 President’s Quality Award,” said Dr. Henry Sullivant, vice president/chief medical officer for Baptist Memorial. “This initiative has elevated the quality of care at the hospital and saved many patients’ lives. I believe it will have a substantial impact on the quality of care within the Baptist system, and I look forward to seeing other Baptist Memorial hospitals implement this initiative and achieve great outcomes.”

Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to an infection and can happen when an infection you already have — in your skin, lungs, urinary tract or somewhere else — triggers a chain reaction throughout your body. According to the CDC, nearly 270,000 Americans die as a result of sepsis each year.

Baptist North Mississippi’s Sepsis Champions quality team developed a protocol or process to ensure the consistent and early identification of sepsis followed by immediate and effective treatment. It included ensuring patients’ antibiotic therapy was appropriate and necessary. The initiative has saved 118 lives since being implemented in 2015.

“We are very proud of this team of experts who are improving the outcomes of our patients who are fighting sepsis,” said Bill Henning, CEO and administrator of Baptist North Mississippi. “The team’s hard work is saving lives and will affect future patients.”

Courtesy of Baptist North Mississippi 

Baptist North Mississippi is a 217-bed hospital in Oxford, Mississippi, that offers a variety of services, including cardiovascular surgery, neurosurgery, home care and hospice and a 24-hour emergency department. In November 2017, the hospital moved into a five-story, 600,000-square-foot-facility that offers expanded services, including a larger emergency department; advanced technology; and larger rooms for patients and their families. Since the hospital became affiliated with the Baptist system in 1989, Baptist has invested almost $700 million into the community. For more information, please call 662-636-1000, visit northmiss.baptistonline.org or follow facebook.com/BaptistNorthMississippi/.