Introduction:
Epidemiology:
Sepsis is a significant public health burden with increasingly high incidence and mortality rates. In 2010, an estimated 5.1% of deaths were attributed to sepsis in the United Kingdom. Consequently, it is a leading cause of admission to intensive care units (ICU), delays in hospital discharge and a significant cost to the economy. Therefore, it is imperative to raise awareness and prepare clinicians with the knowledge and guidance to embark on the global movement towards improving quality of care and outcomes for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
Defining Sepsis:
In 1991, The Society of Critical Care Medicine and The American College of Chest Physicians held a meeting with the aim of establishing distinct definitions regarding sepsis and its associated sequelae. Subsequently, the term systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was made to account for patients who present with this clinical syndrome, without an identifiable source of infection, but as a consequence of a variety of clinical insults such as pancreatitis and ischemia.
Sepsis was then defined as an extensive …show more content…
The ability to diagnose sepsis and the complications that arise as a result is paramount to the efficacy of the treatment and the mortality rates associated with the condition. Evidently, the implementation of the sepsis screening tools has revealed significant improvements in the clinical outcomes in ICU patients. However, this is influenced heavily by the level of compliance demonstrated by the various healthcare professionals within the multidisciplinary team. Therefore, the guidance suggests overcoming such challenges by providing continuous performance improvement strategies through establishing educational opportunities; and encouraging clinicians to feedback and regularly reflect on their
Epidemiology:
Sepsis is a significant public health burden with increasingly high incidence and mortality rates. In 2010, an estimated 5.1% of deaths were attributed to sepsis in the United Kingdom. Consequently, it is a leading cause of admission to intensive care units (ICU), delays in hospital discharge and a significant cost to the economy. Therefore, it is imperative to raise awareness and prepare clinicians with the knowledge and guidance to embark on the global movement towards improving quality of care and outcomes for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.
Defining Sepsis:
In 1991, The Society of Critical Care Medicine and The American College of Chest Physicians held a meeting with the aim of establishing distinct definitions regarding sepsis and its associated sequelae. Subsequently, the term systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) was made to account for patients who present with this clinical syndrome, without an identifiable source of infection, but as a consequence of a variety of clinical insults such as pancreatitis and ischemia.
Sepsis was then defined as an extensive …show more content…
The ability to diagnose sepsis and the complications that arise as a result is paramount to the efficacy of the treatment and the mortality rates associated with the condition. Evidently, the implementation of the sepsis screening tools has revealed significant improvements in the clinical outcomes in ICU patients. However, this is influenced heavily by the level of compliance demonstrated by the various healthcare professionals within the multidisciplinary team. Therefore, the guidance suggests overcoming such challenges by providing continuous performance improvement strategies through establishing educational opportunities; and encouraging clinicians to feedback and regularly reflect on their