3 Key Factors When Using Hospital Sepsis Discharge Data SUMMARYHospital discharge data is easy to obtain but may be misleading due to:Lack of clinical dataSubject to documentation limitationsVarious identification strategies have been developedConversion from ICD-9 to ICD-10 has expanded sepsis coding options resulting in different incidence rates and patterns.REVIEWChan et al JACEP
Potential Value of Point-of-Care Testing in Improving Outpatient Sepsis BACKGROUND General practitioners are typically the first health care provider assessing patients with acute infections. This applies to sepsis cases as well Most sepsis cases begin outside the hospital: 75% of all sepsis patients admitted to the hospital were at home 4
3 Greatest Barriers and Approaches to Sepsis Program Implementations SUMMARY Implementation of an effective sepsis program is both time consuming and complicated. Each institution poses its own unique challenges. Despite this wide heterogeneity, 3 major common themes are the cause of much difficulty and confusion. The key to success in sepsis program
Is Time to Antibiotics a Good Metric for Sepsis? SUMMARY Optimal antibiotic timing remains an actively debated topic. Sepsis is an extremely heterogeneous syndrome, therefore, with which characteristics do earlier antibiotic administration improve outcomes? A more nuanced process may be needed, rather than simply time to antibiotics.
Diagnostic Challenges in Sepsis SUMMARY There remains no single tool to reliably identify sepsis. A variety of approaches exist as well as on the horizon in order to identify infection and sepsis. Identification must bridge the identification of infection with clinical assessment of the sepsis syndrome. BACKGROUND
Two Standards of Sepsis Care - The Nighttime Effect SUMMARYQuick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) has not provided the high predictive performance initially proposed.Modifications to qSOFA has been investigated as a way to improve performance, especially in the Emergency Department (ED).These simple modifications improve qSOFA, but greater analysis is needed to
Two Standards of Sepsis Care - The Nighttime Effect SUMMARY Services in most hospitals differ between day & night or weekend shifts. With clinical staff and hospital resources typically diminished during "off hours", there is increased risk of varying diagnosis, treatments and outcomes of various time sensitive conditions. Limited data indicates, sepsis
Sepsis on the Basis of Suspicion of Infection SUMMARY A suspected or documented infection is required for the diagnosis of sepsis. The lack of a “gold standard” for sepsis diagnosis coupled with the delay of culture results increases the likelihood of including patients in the sepsis management pathway who do not actually
Changes in Sepsis Trends: Real or Artificial? SUMMARY Recent reports indicate a significant increase in the incidence of sepsis with a concomitant drop in mortality. Controversy exists over the true degree of change based on changing definitions and coding practices. Direct clinical indicators of infection and organ dysfunction are preferred
Use of Steroids in Sepsis SUMMARY The use of corticosteroids in sepsis has been recommended on and off for over 40 years. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines previously (2016) did not support steroid use in patients with sepsis, however, the current (2021) recommendation the use of steroids in certain septic shock
