Kathleen (Katie) R. Sheridan, DO, has received UPMC’s Award for Commitment and Excellence in Service (ACES). The ACES Award honors staff whose everyday actions, and in some instances, personal acts of courage and compassion exceed the high level of service that the community has come to expect from UPMC. Each year, less than one percent of UPMC staff from across the health system receives this honor.
Katie has been a member of ID Division for the past 8 years and during this time has been unwavering in her commitment to provide the best care possible to patients. She was inspired to improve the outcome of patients sent home on IV antibiotics because of their high re-admission rates to the hospital. She worked tirelessly and independently to develop a pilot program to reduce adverse events and readmission rates for patients who were discharged from Presbyterian University Hospital on IV antibiotic therapy. The program was designed to proactively identify potential adverse events related to outpatient IV antibiotic therapy; to ensure better laboratory monitoring to identify antibiotic-associated toxicities early; to evaluate patients in the outpatient ID clinic within 7-days of hospital discharge; and, to develop a program that was scalable to other University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) facilities. The results of the pilot program were a reduction in 30-day readmission rates from a baseline of 32% readmission rate to 18% readmission rate. Katie’s initiative and drive have improved patient care and outcomes at UPMC and the OPAT program is being scaled-up throughout the UPMC Health System.