Advancing Patient Care with Procalcitonin

Thursday, May 27, 4:00pm – 5:00pm EST, Webinar

Sepsis is a leading killer in the U.S., striking more than 750,000 patients each year. New therapies and guidelines over the past decade have resulted in significant changes in the treatment of patients with Sepsis. Despite these developments, Sepsis incidence and mortality remain high.

This webinar will explore the challenges of Sepsis diagnosis and emerging patient care practices and protocols for addressing them. In particular, speakers will focus on Procalcitonin (PCT), increasingly recognized as the most promising marker of bacterial infections and Sepsis. Speakers will review clinical applications for PCT in managing patients at risk for Sepsis in critical care and emergent care settings, including its use in early identification of patients at risk for Sepsis and differential diagnosis.
Objectives:
After this presentation, attendees will be able to:
Realize the rise in Sepsis incidence, the factors contributing to this increase, and the human impact.
Identify key challenges associated with early diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Sepsis.
Assess how diagnostic and treatment strategies for Sepsis have evolved over the past decade.
Analyze the role of biomarkers in identifying and monitoring patients with Sepsis.
Gain an understanding of how PCT is used in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with Sepsis.
Speaker:

Ruth M. Kleinpell
PhD, RN, FAAN, FAANP, FCCM
Director, Center for Clinical Research and Scholarship,
Professor, Rush University,
College of Nursing

Dr. Ruth Kleinpell is currently the Director of the Center for Clinical Research and Scholarship at Rush University Medical Center and a Professor at Rush University College of Nursing in Chicago, Illinois, where she teaches in the graduate and doctoral programs. She is certified as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and maintains active clinical practice. She is known for her publications and research related to various acute and critical care topics including sepsis, outcomes, and acute care nurse practitioner practice. She is a member of the editorial boards of The American Journal of Critical Care, Critical Care Medicine, Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, and Nurse Practitioner. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago and the American College of Critical Care Medicine. She is receiving the 2010 AACN Flame of Excellence Award at NTI this year, in recognition for her contributions to critical care nursing. The award honors those who exemplify the Circle of Excellence criteria at the highest levels and is among the association’s highest national honors.

Erica C. DeBoer
RN, BS, MA c, CCRN
Clinical Nurse Leader,
Critical Care,
Sanford USD Medical Center

Erica C. DeBoer is the Clinical Nurse Leader, Critical Care, at Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota, in 1997. In 2010, she will complete her Master of Arts in Nursing with curriculum focus on the business of healthcare, leadership and evidence-based practice for the Clinical Nurse Leader. Establishing a sepsis program and optimizing sepsis outcomes has been the focus of her Masters’ degree work over the last two years. Ms. DeBoer has presented posters at the 2009 National Evidence-Based Practice Conference and at the 2007 Professional Nurse Educator Group national conference. She was a Florence Nightingale Award Recipient in 2000 and 2005, and a Spirit of Nursing Leadership Award Recipient in 2008. Ms. DeBoer is a member of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and the Society of Critical Care Medicine.