Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: sepsis
Free Three-Module Series Equips Clinicians to Navigate the Sepsis “Gray Zone”
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) is proud to release an accredited continuing medical education course designed to strengthen clinical judgment in the early identification of sepsis. The series is free of charge, self-paced, and completely online.
Sepsis causes 1 out of every 5 deaths. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General urges us to take action against sepsis:
“The world must urgently step up efforts to improve data about sepsis so all countries can detect and treat this terrible condition in time. This means strengthening health information systems and ensuring access to rapid diagnostic tools, and quality care including safe and affordable medicines and vaccines.”
Continue reading “Sepsis is a Patient Safety Crisis: Two Free Events You Must Attend”
By Michael W. Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)
Amy Campbell, Ph.D., RN, CPHQ, LSBB (Quality Nurse Specialist, ECU Health) is always showing up for sepsis!
When I mentioned to Dr. Campbell, who is also the chair of our Sepsis Advisory Board, that the Global Sepsis Alliance had invited me to speak at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, I was not thinking that she would come and speak at the event. Well, perhaps I was hoping she would, but the distance between North Carolina and Manhattan is more than 500 miles (entailing more than a 9-hour drive or an almost 2-hour flight).
Continue reading “Showing Up for Sepsis: Dr. Amy Campbell Speaks at UN General Assembly Week”
Editor’s Note: Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) interviewed Amy Campbell, PhD, RN, CPHQ (LSBB Quality Nurse Specialist, ECU Health; Chair, PPAHS Sepsis Advisory Board) after her presentation at the 4th World Sepsis Congress. This article discusses Ms. Campbell’s presentation and the need for both quantitive and qualitative assessments for sepsis patients.
At the 4th World Sepsis Congress (April 25-26, 2023), more than 85 speakers from more than 35 countries presented on all aspects of sepsis, including the link to pandemics and AMR, the role of AI, ML, big data, patient safety, the impact of policy, novel trial design, and the latest research. The 4th World Sepsis Congress was attended by more than 15,400 registrations from 187 countries (for a copy of the full Congress report, please click here).
Editor’s note: To read the press release on GlobalNewswire, please click here.
We are pleased to announce that the remaining 4 sessions from the World Sepsis Spotlight: Unmet Need in Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment, hosted by the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA) and the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) have been accredited by PPAHS for continuing medical education (CME) credits.
Participants can earn continuing medical education credits by accessing the Spotlight sessions here. We are also thrilled to confirm that CME credits for the 2024 WSC Spotlight will be issued free of charge.
Can we learn from the COVID pandemic? If so, what can we learn from the COVID Pandemic to prevent another pandemic?
COVID has been the biggest health emergency in recent times, with over 700 million cases and nearly seven million deaths. It caused disruption across the globe and enormous pressure on healthcare systems worldwide.
In describing the death toll from the COVID Pandemic, WHO (World Health Organization) believes that the true death toll has been underreported:
On 30 January 2020 COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) with an official death toll of 171. By 31 December 2020, this figure stood at 1 813 188. Yet preliminary estimates suggest the total number of global deaths attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 is at least 3 million, representing 1.2 million more deaths than officially reported.
With the latest COVID-19 deaths reported to WHO now exceeding 3.4 million, based on the excess mortality estimates produced for 2020, we are likely facing a significant undercount of total deaths directly and indirectly attributed to COVID-19.
Continue reading “Lessons from the COVID Pandemic to Fight Against Sepsis and Common Infections”
The COVID Pandemic touched us all with disease, death, and isolation.
In an article published in Open Access Government, a digital publication that provides an in-depth perspective on key public policy areas from all around the world, Michael Wong, JD (Founder & Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) and Amy Campbell, Ph.D., RN, CPHQ, LSBB (Quality Nurse Specialist, ECU Health; Chair, PPAHS Sepsis Advisory Board) gather the thoughts and recommendations from the recent 4th World Sepsis Congress on how the pandemic, while tragic, showed new ways of working that could be applied in the battle against sepsis.
To read the article on Open Access Government, please visit (p 51).
Or, read a PDF of the article, by clicking on the image below:
Continue reading “What Can We Learn from the COVID Pandemic?”
By Dr. Joni Grace, BHMS, PGDCR, Strategic Case Management Consultant, Jhpiego (Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics)
Sepsis is a serious and potentially life-threatening medical condition characterized by a dysregulated systemic response to infection. It is a major global health concern, accounting for a significant number of hospital admissions, prolonged stays, and mortality rates worldwide.
Hospital-acquired sepsis occurs when an infection develops after admission to a healthcare facility, such as a hospital or long-term care facility. It typically arises due to the introduction of pathogens into the patient’s bloodstream through invasive procedures, contaminated medical devices, surgical sites, or poor hygiene practices. Common causative organisms include Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Candida species.
The global burden of sepsis is difficult to ascertain, although a recent scientific publication estimated that in 2017 there were 48.9 million cases and 11 million sepsis-related deaths worldwide, which accounted for almost 20% of all global deaths. In 2017, almost half of all global sepsis cases occurred among children, with an estimated 20 million cases and 2.9 million global deaths in children under five years of age.
This article discusses the role of nurses in improving sepsis care. Written by one of our nurse writers, Marsha Pope Harrison, it discusses the recent 4th World Sepsis Congress on the benefits of multidisciplinary teams in sepsis care.
By Marsha Pope Harrison, RN, BSN
Sepsis is a medical emergency that needs prompt and coordinated care. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines sepsis as a life-threatening illness that occurs when the body’s response to an infection causes damage to its tissues and organs. The damage caused by sepsis can rapidly lead to organ failure and death.
Any infection can result in sepsis, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states nearly 87% of sepsis cases start before the patient gets to the hospital.
Sepsis is a notable cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In America, 1.7 million adults develop sepsis, and 350,000 die during their hospitalization, according to the CDC.
With that said, we must take an interdisciplinary approach to treat patients who arrive with signs and symptoms of this deadly condition. This is where multidisciplinary teams for sepsis care come into play. Multidisciplinary teams play a crucial role in providing comprehensive and effective sepsis care.
By Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)
Dr. François Ventura is a specialist in anesthesiology, intensive care medicine, and emergency medicine at the University Hospitals of Geneva and at the Hirslanden Clinique des Grangettes (Geneva, Switzerland). He also collaborates part-time as the chief medical officer of Abionic, a Lausanne-based Swiss MedTech company specializing in the development of ultra-rapid in vitro diagnostic tests.
I first met him when he spoke on a case report he and his colleagues had published in the Journal of Surgical Case Reports. This report detailed a 62-year-old man who experienced complications of abdominal surgery with intra-abdominal infection, postoperative peritonitis, sepsis, septic shock, and multiple organ failure requiring complex management and multiple surgical interventions.
Continue reading “Biomarkers in Early Diagnosis of Sepsis: An Interview With Dr. François Ventura”
