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
A resource for the hospital toolkit for adult sepsis surveillance
Guidelines and tools
Children
Adults
See Also:
Education and training
All HCPs
- 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
- (free continuing education credit)
Keep Reading:
Get Ahead of Sepsis
Videos
All HCPs
EMS Personnel and Disaster Responders
Public health and policy
- from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials