Sepsis is the leading cause of death among critically ill patients and the 10th most common cause of death overall in the United States. The mortality rates increase with severity of the disease, ranging from 15% for sepsis to 60% for septic shock. Patient with sepsis can present varied clinical symptoms depending on the personal predisposition, causal microorganism, organ system involved, and disease severity. To facilitate sepsis diagnosis, the first sepsis consensus definitions was published in 1991 and then updated in 2001. Early recognition of a sepsis patient followed with timely and appropriate treatment and management strategies have been shown to significantly reduce sepsis-related mortality, and allows care to be provided at lower costs. Despite the rapid progress in the knowledge of pathophysiological mechanisms of sepsis and its treatment in the last two decades, identifying patient with sepsis and therapeutic approaches to sepsis and its complications remains challenging to critical care clinicians. Hence, the objectives of this thesis were to 1) evaluate the test characteristics of the two sepsis consensus definitions and delineate the differences in patient profile among patients meeting or not meeting sepsis definitions; 2) determine the relationship between the changes in several physiological parameters before sepsis onset and sepsis, and to determine whether these parameters could be used to identify sepsis in critically ill adults; 3) evaluate the effect of corticosteroids therapy on patient mortality. Data used in this thesis were prospectively collected from an electronic medical record system for all the adult patients admitted into the seven critical care units (ICUs) in a tertiary medical center. Besides analyzing data at the ICU stay level, we investigated patient information in various time frames, including 24-hour, 12-hour, and 6-hour time windows. In the first study of this thesis, the 1991 sepsis definition was found to have a high sensitivity of 94.6%, but a low specificity of 61.0%. The 2001 sepsis definition had a slightly increased sensitivity but a decreased specificity, which was 96.9% and 58.3%, respectively. The areas under the ROC curve for the two consensus definitions were similar, but less than optimal. The sensitivity and area under the ROC curve of both definitions were lower at the 24-hour time window level than those of the unit stay level, though the specificity increased slightly. At the time window level, the 1991 definitions performed slightly better than the 2001 definition. In the second study, minimum systolic blood pressure performed the best, followed by maximum respiratory rate in discriminating sepsis patients from SIRS patients. Maximum heart rate and maximum respiratory rate can differentiate sepsis patients from non-SIRS patients fairly well. The area under ROC of the combination of five physiological parameters was 0.74 and 0.90 for comparing sepsis to non-infectious SIRS patients and comparing sepsis to non-SIRS patients, respectively. Parameters typically performed better in 24-hour windows compared to 6-hour or 12-hour windows. In the third study, significantly increased hospital mortality and ICU mortality were observed in the group treated with low-dose corticosteroids than the control group based on the propensity score matched comparisons, and multivariate logistic regression analyses after adjustment for propensity score alone, covariates, or propensity score (in deciles) and covariates. This thesis advances the existing knowledge by systemically evaluating the test characteristics for the 1991 and 2001 sepsis consensus definitions, delineating physiological signs and symptoms of deterioration in the preceding 24 hours prior to sepsis onset, assessing the prediction performances of single or combined physiological parameters, and examining the use of corticosteroids treatment and survival among septic shock patients. In addition, this thesis sets an innovative example on how to use data from electronic medical records as these surveillance systems are becoming increasingly popular. The results of these studies suggest that a more parsimonious set of definitional criteria for sepsis diagnosis are needed to improve sepsis case identification. In addition, continuously monitored physiological parameters could help to identify patients who show signs of deterioration prior to developing sepsis. Last but not least, caution should be used when considering a recommendation on the use of low dose corticosteroids in clinical practice guidelines for the management of sepsis.

La prescription électronique, définie comme la saisie et la transmission électronique de diverses données de prescriptions (médicaments, requêtes de laboratoires, imagerie), est une technologie qui promet d’augmenter la productivité de l’exécution d’une prescription, de diminuer les erreurs reliées à l’illisibilité des prescriptions manuscrites et d’améliorer l’usage approprié des médicaments. Toutefois, la réalisation des bénéfices associés à cette technologie dépend grandement du contexte local de l’implantation et la configuration du système, qui doivent être adaptés aux besoins de l’établissement de santé et aux pratiques locales des professionnels. Bien que la prescription électronique soit implantée depuis plus d’une décennie dans plusieurs établissements de santé à travers le monde, il s’agit d’une technologie émergente au Québec et au Canada. Le Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine est l’un des premiers établissements de santé au Québec qui a implanté un système informatisé d’entrée d’ordonnances (SIEO) en 2019. L’outil, développé par un fournisseur local, a été adapté spécifiquement aux besoins de cet hôpital pédiatrique. Ainsi, l’objectif principal de ce mémoire est d’évaluer les effets de ce SIEO sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments. Plus spécifiquement, ce mémoire vise à 1) mesurer et décrire les problèmes liés à l’usage des médicaments avant et après l’implantation du SIEO, 2) identifier les caractéristiques du SIEO qui influencent la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments et 3) formuler des recommandations pour optimiser les bénéfices de l’outil de prescription électronique pour les patients et les utilisateurs. Afin de répondre à ces objectifs, ce travail présente deux études distinctes : 1. Une première analyse heuristique de l’utilisabilité portant spécifiquement sur la vulnérabilité du système a été effectuée en préimplantation du SIEO. Des scénarios visant à identifier les vulnérabilités du système ont été élaborés, puis un score permettant de noter la capacité du système à pallier ces vulnérabilités a été attribué par trois experts indépendants, afin de formuler des recommandations sur le design des fonctionnalités clés de cet outil. 2. Une étude observationnelle pré-post a été menée dans la période précédant l'implantation du système, et suivant l'implantation du système, dans l'unité pilote de pédiatrie générale. L’étude observationnelle est composée de deux volets, soit : a) une analyse des erreurs liées aux prescriptions de médicaments pour un échantillon d’ordonnances rédigées pendant une semaine par une analyse des interventions des pharmaciens et un audit de conformité des prescriptions et b) une analyse pré-post des erreurs liées au circuit du médicament, à partir des rapports d’incidents et accidents déclarés en lien avec le médicament. Les types d'erreurs ont été analysés afin de bien comprendre leur nature, ainsi que le rôle potentiel de la technologie sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments. Ces analyses ont été contextualisées par une description des fonctionnalités du SIEO (par l’utilisation d’outils validés pour l’évaluation des SIEO), des flux cliniques (par l’observation directe), et du projet d’implantation (par l’analyse de documents et des discussions avec les parties prenantes) afin de formuler des recommandations visant à optimiser les bénéfices du SIEO. Le premier article rapporte l'analyse de l'utilisabilité (étude 1) et des problèmes liés à la prescription de médicaments (étude 2a). Les résultats suggèrent que le système d’aide à la décision intégré au SIEO ne disposait pas de fonctionnalités recommandées pour limiter les vulnérabilités liées à l’usage de ce type d’outil. Néanmoins, les erreurs de conformité, qui représentaient la majorité des problèmes de prescription avant l’implantation ont été complètement éliminées par le nouveau SIEO. Toutefois, il n’y a pas eu de différence sur les erreurs de dosage et les autres interventions des pharmaciens. Ainsi, les résultats obtenus confirment qu’il est nécessaire de configurer un système d’aide à la décision avancé et adapté aux soins hospitaliers pédiatriques afin de réduire davantage les erreurs cliniques liées aux ordonnances de médicaments. Le deuxième article présente l’analyse des rapports d’incidents et accidents (étude 2b), et vise à estimer les effets du SIEO sur la sécurité de l'usage des médicaments, ainsi que mieux comprendre les erreurs de médicaments dans l’ensemble du processus des soins. L’article met en évidence le rôle important de la prescription électronique dans la simplification des étapes de la relève, de la transmission et de la transcription de la prescription. De plus, l'amélioration de l’utilisabilité de la feuille d’administration des médicaments électronique (FADMe) pourrait contribuer à réduire davantage le nombre d'erreurs liées au médicament. Ces deux articles permettent d’explorer les liens entre les caractéristiques du SIEO et les effets sur la sécurité de l’usage des médicaments, durant l’étape de prescription spécifiquement ainsi qu’à travers l’entièreté du circuit du médicament. Des recommandations sur l’utilisabilité du système et des stratégies de prévention sont présentées afin de réduire les erreurs liées au médicament. / Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), defined as a system used for entering and transmitting orders (e.g., for drugs, imaging, or lab requests) electronically, is a technology that can increase the productivity of order dispensing, reduce errors related to the illegibility of handwritten prescriptions and increase the appropriate use of medication. However, achieving the benefits associated with this technology depends on the local context of the implementation and configuration of the system, which must be adapted to the needs of the healthcare institution and the local practices of the healthcare professionals. Although CPOEs have been implemented for more than a decade in many healthcare institutions worldwide, it is an emerging technology in Quebec and Canada. The Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Sainte-Justine is one of the first healthcare institutions in Quebec to implement a CPOE system in 2019. The CPOE, which was developed by a local vendor, was tailored specifically to meet the needs of the CHU Sainte-Justine's pediatric inpatient population. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effects of the CPOE on medication safety. More specifically, this study seeks to 1) measure and describe problems related to medication use before and after the implementation of the CPOE, 2) identify the characteristics of the CPOE that influence medication safety, and 3) provide recommendations to optimize the benefits of the CPOE for patients and users. To address these objectives, two studies were conducted: 1. An expert-based heuristic vulnerability analysis of the system was performed to analyze the usability of the CPOE in the pre-implementation phase. Scenarios to identify system vulnerabilities were developed, and a score to rate the CPOE's ability to address these vulnerabilities was assigned by three independent experts to make recommendations on the design of the CPOE's key features. 2. A pre-post observational study was conducted prior to and following the CPOE implementation in the general pediatrics unit. The observational study included two components: a) An analysis of medication orders problems for a sample of prescriptions ordered for one week through the documentation of pharmacists’ interventions and a prescription conformity audit; b) An analysis of medication-related incident and accident reports throughout the year in pre and post implementation. The types of errors were described to understand their nature, as well as the potential role of technology on the safety of medication use. The analyses were contextualized with descriptions of the CPOE features (through the use of validated tools for CPOE evaluation), clinical workflows (through direct observation) and implementation project (through secondary document analysis and discussions with stakeholders) in order to make recommendations to improve medication safety. The first article covers the vulnerability analysis (study 1) and the medication orders problems at the prescribing step (study 2a). The results show that the clinical decision support system (CDSS) integrated into the CPOE lacked the recommended features to identify pediatric order errors. Conformity errors, which accounted for most prescribing errors, were completely eliminated by the prescriber implementation. However, there was no difference in dosing errors and other pharmacist interventions. Thus, the results obtained from these two components suggest the need to configure an advanced CDSS tailored to pediatric hospital care to further reduce clinical errors. The second article, focused on the analysis of incident and accident reports (study 2b), aims to estimate the impacts of the electronic prescriber on medication safety, as well as to better understand medication errors in the overall care process. The article highlights the importance of simplifying the acknowledgment, transmission, and transcription steps by implementing a CPOE. Improving the usability of the electronic medication administration record (eMAR) could further reduce medication errors. These two articles explore the relationship between the characteristics of the CPOE and their impact on medication safety, specifically at the prescribing step and throughout the entire medication management process. Recommendations on system usability and other prevention strategies are presented to improve medication safety.

Bakgrund: I Sverige pågår för närvarande stora projekt för att utforma och införa framtidens vårdinformationssystem. Dessa system utvecklas för att effektivisera hälso- och sjukvårdens processer och IT-miljöer. Elektroniska patientjournalsystem är den mest använda typen av vårdinformationssystem. Andra exempel är system för prover och svar, patientadministration och läkemedelsförskrivning. Trots att vårdinformationssystem har visat sig kunna bidra till ökad patientsäkerhet och kvalitet har implementering av nya system i hälso- och sjukvården en historia av att ofta misslyckas. Enligt ramverket Technology, People, Organizations and Macroenvironmental factors (TPOM), påverkar ett antal områden hur väl implementering av vårdinformationssystem faller ut.  Sjuksköterskor är den största legitimerade yrkeskåren inom hälso- och sjukvård. De ansvarar för omvårdnaden av en individ och hela dennes situation vilket bidrar till att sjuksköterskor är de som använder vårdinformationssystem mest frekvent. För att bidra till lyckad utveckling, implementering och förvaltning av vårdinformationssystem behöver sjuksköterskors upplevelser av utmaningar och möjligheter med vårdinformationssystem och vårddokumentation beskrivas.   Syfte: Studiens syfte är att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av utmaningar och möjligheter med vårdinformationssystem och vårddokumentation utifrån tekniska, personliga, organisatoriska och samhälleliga områden.  Metod: Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med tio legitimerade sjuksköterskor från olika verksamheter. Analys av insamlad data skedde genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys med deduktiv ansats utifrån huvudkategorierna i ramverket TPOM.  Resultat: Utmaningar och möjligheter inom områdena teknik, person, organisation och samhälle identifierades och beskrevs. Totalt tio subkategorier identifierades under huvudkategorierna. Respondenternas upplevelser av liknande utmaningar och möjligheter oavsett arbetsplats och vårdinformationssystem tyder på att resultatet kan appliceras och tas i beaktande vid utveckling, implementering och förvaltning oavsett vårdinformationssystem. / Background: Currently in Sweden, there are a number of ongoing extensive projects aiming towards development and adoption of futures’ health information technology (HIT). These systems are formed to make the processes and IT environment of health care more effective. Electronic health records are the most used type of health information technology. Other examples are systems for laboratory testing, patient administration and prescription of medications. Even though HIT has proven to contribute to effectiveness and quality of care, the implementations of such systems has a history of failing. According to the Technology, People, Organizations and Macroenvironmental factors framework (TPOM), a number of dimensions has an impact to determine the success of HIT implementation.  Nurses are the largest group of registered health care practitioners in Sweden. Nursing care include caring for the individual in whole, which leads to nurses extensive, and frequent use of HIT. To contribute to successful development, implementation and continuous management of HIT, nurses’ experiences of challenges and possibilities in HIT and documentation must be described further.  Aim: This study aims to describe nurses’ experiences of challenges and possibilities in Health information technology and documentation in the perspective of Technology, People, Organizations and Macroenvironmental factors.  Method: Qualitative, semistructured interviews was conducted with ten registered nurses coming from different types of care. Data was analyzed based on deductive approached qualitative content analysis, using the TPOM framework.  Results: Challenges and possibilites within technology, people, organizations and macroenvironmental domains were identified and described. A total of ten subcategories were identified. The respondendts experienced similar challenges and possibilites, regardless of workplace and health information technology. This implicates that the result of this study might be considered in development, implementation and management of HIT.

Introduction: Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs) are a major cause of increased mortality, morbidity and healthcare costs in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) patients. Despite CDC's efforts to reduce infection rates, patients often suffer consequences. The objective of this study is to perform a systematic review of strategies utilized in the neonatal population and evaluate them with the current CDC's guidelines to assess the effectiveness of bundles in preventing CLABSI in NICUs. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using CINAHL Plus with Text, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and MEDLINE from January 2008 up to 2018. There were multiple search terms used and these included "neonate OR newborn OR infant", "CLABSI OR central line-associated bloodstream infection", "intervention OR prevention" and "bundle". The search solely focused on the outcome of infant patients. Therefore studies were excluded for the following criteria: being non-peer reviewed, being published before 2008, and being a case in which CLABSI was assessed in patients outside the NICU. See Table 4 and 5 for further information. Results: Eight articles were eligible for inclusion all of which CDC's guidelines were implemented in their strategy of intervention. The systematic review showed that adherence to care bundles decreases infection rates drastically. All eight articles reported a significant decrease in CLABSI rates following the implementation of the bundle set by CDC with two studies achieving a CLABSI rate of zero. Author's Conclusion: Implementation of care bundles showed a success in reducing CLABSI rates in the NICUs; however none of the studies endorsed a specific bundle application utilized to achieve its intended goal. Some practices adopted CDC's guidelines more than others and those showed a greater decrease in infection rate. In addition, it is evident that nurses deliver the best care when preventing an infection. Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of a specific bundle element.