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Sepsis at the Front Door: How Coordinators and Nurses Triage Life-or-Death Decisions

Webinars

When a patient with suspected sepsis arrives in the emergency department, every minute matters. This webinar brings together Sepsis Coordinators and frontline nurses for a candid discussion on how early detection, triage workflows, and diagnostic tools can mean the difference between recovery and rapid decline.

  • 11 November 2025
  • 08h00
  • Online - Sepsis Alliance

2 PM EDT   |   11 AM PDT   |   8 AM CEST (Central European Summer Time)

 

Moderated by Heather Orgeron, DNP, MSN, RN, Performance Improvement Supervisor, Stroke Coordinator, and Sepsis Coordinator at Ochsner Health, the panel builds on insights from the June 2025 national focus group on sepsis workflow. Speakers will explore real-world challenges, from early warning system gaps and EHR alert fatigue to the urgent need for faster, more actionable point-of-care diagnostics.

 

Attendees will learn practical strategies to:

  •     - Strengthen sepsis screening and escalation protocols;
  •   - Reduce workflow delays that cost critical time;
  •   - Bridge the gap between clinical practice and diagnostic innovation.

 

Heather Orgeron, DNP, MSN, RN is the Performance Improvement Supervisor, Stroke Coordinator, and Sepsis Coordinator at Ochsner Health in Slidell, Louisiana. A dynamic nursing leader with over a decade of experience, Heather specializes in driving clinical excellence through data-driven quality improvement initiatives. Her leadership in sepsis care has led to significant improvements in emergency department outcomes at two local hospitals, including increased order set utilization and dramatic reductions in door-to-antibiotic times—enhancing timely treatment and protocol adherence. Heather is passionate about empowering nurses and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration to elevate patient care. She also serves as adjunct faculty at Southeastern Louisiana University School of Nursing, mentoring first-year students in clinical practice. A recipient of multiple nursing excellence awards, Heather continues to champion innovative strategies that improve care delivery and patient outcomes.

 

William Van Why BSN, RN, TCCC, EMT-P is a Sepsis Coordinator at Baptist HealthCare, where he focuses on acute sepsis cases in the Emergency Department, Acute Care, and Intensive Care units. William is also the chair of the Sepsis Task Force that includes a team of practitioners, department managers, quality managers, and pharmacists. This program saw 30% sepsis bundle compliance just 2 years ago with an observed over expected (O/E) mortality ratio of 1.4. Current state is a sepsis bundle compliance rate of 66% with an O/E ratio of 0.84. The largest focus of this program is placed on sepsis awareness and mortality reduction through bundle compliance. It's no surprise that mortalities increase when sepsis bundle compliance decreases. Demonstrating this correlation with our practitioner partners has dramatically decreased our observed mortalities and led to lower length of stay times for patients.

 

Vanessa Pino, RN, BSN, CEN is a Nursing Supervisor in the Emergency Department at Ochsner Health System. She is a registered nurse with six years of experience in emergency, medical-surgical, and telemetry settings, and more than twelve years of experience working in healthcare. Throughout her career, she has developed strong leadership skills and has been recognized for her professionalism, clinical excellence, and commitment to advancing patient care. Currently pursuing a Master of Science in Nursing, Vanessa has focused her graduate work on improving sepsis accuracy in the emergency department to enhance early recognition, timely intervention, and overall patient outcomes. Her MSN practicum work has strengthened her dedication to evidence-based practice and quality improvement initiatives on sepsis.

 

Join us November 11 for this frontline conversation on how hospitals can move sepsis intervention closer to the moment of patient arrival.

 

Link for Free REGISTRATION: https://learn.sepsis.org/products/abionic-sponsored-webinar-sepsis-at-the-front-door-how-coordinators-and-nurses-triage-life-or-death-decisions

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