Tag: sepsis

Preventing Hospital-Acquired Sepsis: Best Practices and Quality Improvement Initiatives

Preventing Hospital-Acquired Sepsis: Best Practices and Quality Improvement Initiatives

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. 

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The Benefits of Multidisciplinary Teams in Sepsis Care at the Healthcare Facility Level: The Role of the Nurse

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. 

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Biomarkers in Early Diagnosis of Sepsis: An Interview With Dr. François Ventura

Biomarkers in Early Diagnosis of Sepsis: An Interview With Dr. François Ventura

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.

Dr. François Ventura

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.

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Global Sepsis Alliance Commends Physician-Patient Alliance Video Featuring Dr. Ken Rothfield

The Global Sepsis Alliance has commended the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) for its invaluable contribution to reducing the unacceptable human suffering from sepsis. The Global Sepsis Awards, which are sponsored by the Erin Kay Flatley Memorial Foundation, honor outstanding efforts to increase sepsis awareness and raise the quality of sepsis prevention and management.

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Sepsis Protocols Need Improving to Prevent Complications of Care

Editor’s Note: This editorial from the desk of PPAHS’s Executive Director encourages sepsis protocols to be revising to prevent complications of care.

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Patients go into hospital expecting to get “fixed” – to have whatever ails them to be treated. This is what we go to doctors for. In fact, this is what we go to any expert for – we go to lawyers to handle our legal problems, accountants to handle our accounting problems, doctors to handle our health problems.

Therefore, to go into hospital and contract another ailment – one unrelated to what we went in for – is concerning. For the patient, it means having to deal with this second ailment, including the related extra time, expense, and pain and suffering that that entails. For the physician, it means that something has been done or not done that has resulted in the patient getting ailment number two.

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Should We Be Watching a Stopwatch or Wanting Better Patient Care? – The Debate over the 1-Hour Sepsis Bundle

Editor’s Note: This editorial from the desk of PPAHS’s Executive Director asks whether the debate over the 1-hour sepsis bundle should focus on improving care and not on making sure certain procedures are done within a 60-minute timeframe.

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

The recent kerfuffle over the 1-Hour Sepsis Bundle has missed the point about the need for better patient care and a much needed effort to save patient lives.

In 2002, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the Society of Critical Care Medicine, and the International Sepsis Forum came together and formed the Surviving Sepsis Campaign aiming to reduce sepsis-related mortality by 25% within 5 years. The goals of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign were to improve the management of sepsis through a 7-point agenda including:

  • Building awareness of sepsis
  • Improving diagnosis
  • Increasing the use of appropriate treatment
  • Educating healthcare professionals
  • Improving post-ICU care
  • Developing guidelines of care
  • Implementing a performance improvement program

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You May Not Get a Second Chance to Save a Patient’s Life

Editor’s note – In this article for the DoctorWeighsIn, Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) recounts his meeting with Dr. Ken Rothfield that led to the making of the video, “5 Keys to Reducing Sepsis.”

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

According to the CDC, each year in the U.S., more than 1.5 million Americans will develop sepsis and at least 250,000 Americans will die from sepsis. Although these numbers may be staggering, they may not hit home until sepsis strikes a loved one, a friend, or even yourself.

For me, it struck when Dr. Ken Rothfield and I met at a healthcare conference. Dr. Rothfield is Chief Medical Officer at Medical City Dallas, which is operated by the Hospital Corporation of America. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), a non-profit advocacy group that I founded more than seven years ago, and has been a strong advocate for and partner in patient safety. He told me at the conference, “I almost died from sepsis.”

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Early Detection of Sepsis Through Monitoring Saves Patient Lives

Editor’s Note: In this video interview, Dr. Ken Rothfield urges his fellow clinicians to monitor patients for sepsis. Says Dr. Rothfeld, “patient monitoring can alert you at the earliest possible moment when sepsis is developing.”

Clinical studies have found mortality is significantly reduced if septic patients are identified at early stages of the disease process. Anand Kumar, MD (Critical Care Medicine, Health Sciences Centre/St. Boniface Hospital, University of Manitoba) and his colleagues in “Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock” found in their research that early detection and treatment of sepsis is akey to reduced morbidity and mortality:

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