Key points
- Sepsis is a medical emergency. You play a critical role. Protect your patients by acting fast.
- You should immediately evaluate and treat patients who might have sepsis.
- With your fast recognition and treatment, most patients survive.
Diagnosis and treatment
Sepsis is diagnosed through a medical assessment by a healthcare provider.
Keep Reading:
Diagnosing sepsis
Educate your patients and their families about
- Preventing infections
- Keeping cuts and wounds clean and covered until healed
- Managing chronic conditions
- Recognizing early signs and symptoms of worsening infection and sepsis, and seeking immediate care if signs and symptoms are present
If you suspect sepsis
- Know your facility's guidance for diagnosing and managing sepsis.
- Immediately alert the healthcare provider overseeing care of the patient if it is not you.
- Start antibiotics as soon as possible in addition to other therapies appropriate for the patient. If a specific bacterial cause of sepsis is known, therapy should be targeted to optimize treatment, and broad-spectrum antibiotics might not be needed.
- Check patient progress frequently. Treatment requires urgent medical care, usually in an intensive care unit in a hospital, and includes careful monitoring of vital signs. Reassess patients with sepsis early and frequently to determine the appropriate duration and type of therapy.
Resources
- Hospital Toolkit for Adult Sepsis Surveillance [PDF – 32 pages]
- Hospital Toolkit for Adult Sepsis Surveillance Webinar from the Society of Critical Care Medicine Critical Care Quality Summit
Guidelines and tools
Children
- Children's Hospital Association, Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO)
- Kaiser Permanente, Neonatal Early-Onset Sepsis Calculator
- Surviving Sepsis Campaign, International Guidelines for the Management of Septic Shock and Sepsis-Associated Organ Dysfunction in Children
- Surviving Sepsis Campaign, Guidelines and Bundles for Pediatric Patients
Adults
- American College of Emergency Physicians, Sepsis (DART)
- Critical Care Medicine, Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 2021
- Society for Clinical Care Medicine, Clinical Resources
See Also:
Technical Resources & Guidelines
Education and training
All HCPs
- The Sepsis Alliance Institute
- Surviving Sepsis Campaign
- Your Guide to Infection Control and Prevention: A Webinar Series: Sepsis Standard Work: Improving Compliance with Early Recognition and Management of Perinatal Sepsis
- Making Health Care Safer. Think Sepsis. Time Matters.
- Harnessing the Home Care System for Early Sepsis Recognition & Intervention trainings
EMS Personnel and Disaster Responders
- Disaster Medicine: Sepsis Educational Training Module (free continuing education credit)
Keep Reading:
Get Ahead of Sepsis
Videos
All HCPs
- Sepsis Standard Work: Improving Compliance with Early Recognition and Management of Perinatal Sepsis
- Empowering Nurses for Early Sepsis Recognition
- Advances in Sepsis: Protecting Patients Throughout the Lifespan
- Think Sepsis and Act Fast
EMS Personnel and Disaster Responders
- Sepsis: First Response Educational Video [16:15]
- Sepsis: Pediatric First Response Educational Video [17:24]
Public health and policy
- A Matter of Life and Death: How States Are Tackling Sepsis as Public Policy from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials