Are There Positive Deviant Nurses in the Speed of Administering Antibiotics for Sepsis?

Positive deviance (PD) is an application of complexity leadership theory that fosters organizational learning of difficult tasks. PD may also be able to avoid the increased burnout associated with the top-down management tactics of traditional quality improvement (QI). We assessed whether PD may be an appropriate strategy to improve sepsis care by testing for the presence of heterogeneity in nursing antibiotic administration time (AAT) for severe sepsis or septic shock patients and identifying the positive deviant nurses.
Primary author: Bailee Wilson, BS
Co-authors: Nima Sarani MD; Robert Badgett, MD; Bradley Jackson, MD; Nicole Wilhelm, RN