Sepsis guidelines

Abstract

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign 2012 Guidelines offer recommendations for the care of severely septic patients. These guidelines are appraised and summarized briefly in this article, and a case example illustrates the integration process. These guidelines are important for multidisciplinary team members working together toward the common goal of reducing sepsis mortality.

Sepsis Screening: Combining Early Warning Scores and SIRS Criteria

“…Sepsis and septic shock have been identified as both high volume and high cost complications of hospitalization, often requiring stays in intensive care units (ICU) and/or resulting in death (Lehman & Thiessen, 2015; National Quality Forum [NQF], 2012). According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) sepsis was the sixth most common primary reason for hospitalization in 2009 (NQF, 2012).…”

“…Estimates place mortality rates from sepsis and septic shock between 14.7% and 29.9% with an estimated 229,044 related deaths in 2009 (Gaieski et al, 2013; Lehman & Thiessen, 2015). Mortality from septic shock remains high, with an approximate rate of 50.7% in 2014 (Kadri et al, 2017).…”

“…Rhee et al (2017) found that in-hospital mortality decreased, but overall death or discharge to hospice did not have a statistically significant change from 2009 to 2014. This places sepsis and septic shock as the third most common cause of death in the United States behind heart disease and cancer, and a factor in one to every two to three hospital deaths (Gaieski et al, 2013; Lehman & Thiessen, 2015; Liu et al, 2014). Treating sepsis and septic shock cost the United States health care system an estimated US$20.3 billion to US$24.3 billion from 2007 to 2011 (Gaieski et al, 2013; Lehman & Thiessen, 2015).…”