Improving hospital sepsis programs

In america, roughly 1.7 million adult hospitalizations and over one-third of hospital deaths are attributable to sepsis every year (Rhee et al., 2017). Current recommendations and guidelines concentrate on early recognition and treatment of sepsis, and rightly so, as we all know, early interventions improve outcomes and survival. Nonetheless, adding or improving hospital-based sepsis programs, together with interventions that provide long-term treatment and recovery as a part of our fight against sepsis, could further improve these outcomes.

The 2022 National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) annual study, which assesses the incidence and characteristics of sepsis management programs in sepsis hospitals, found that of the 5,221 hospitals surveyed, 73% have sepsis management teams, and 55% provide team leaders with treatment time for sepsis programs (Dantes et al., 2023). We are able to do higher.

Basic elements of a hospital sepsis program

It is crucial to support hospitals and health systems to make sure effective teams and resources are in place to optimize sepsis programs and outcomes. In August 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched Basic elements of hospital sepsis program. This recent program focuses on 7 elements to offer structure for the multifaceted care needed to treat sepsis:

1. Commitment of hospital management
2. Responsibility
3. Multi-industry expertise
4. Motion
5. Tracking
6. Reporting
7. Education

For every of those 7 elements, the CDC provides “priority examples” and “additional examples” to assist hospital programs organize their activities to best achieve their goals. For institutions which are just starting this system or have limited resources, a targeted “start” list can be included to prioritize initial activities of identifying program leaders/co-leaders, securing support from hospital or health system leadership, conducting a needs evaluation and setting initial goals based on these results (CDC, 2023).

Supporting those on the front line within the fight against sepsis

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP). (2023, August 24). Basic elements of a hospital sepsis program. https://www.cdc.gov/sepsis/core-elements.html

Dantes, R.B., Kaur, H., Bouwkamp, ​​​​B.A., Haass, K.A., Patel, P., Dudeck, M.A., Srinivasan, A., Magill, S.S., Wilson, W.W., Whitaker, M., Gladden, N.M., McLaughlin, E. S., Horowitz, J. K., Posa, P. J., & Prescott, H. C. (2023). Sepsis Program Activities in Acute Care Hospitals – National Health Care Safety Network, United States, 2022. , (34), 907–911. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7234a2 Â Â

Rhee, C., Dantes, R., Epstein, L., Murphy, D.J., Seymour, C.W., Iwashyna, T.J., Kadri, S.S., Angus, D.C., Danner, R.L., Fiore, A.E., Jernigan, J.A., Martin, G.S. , Septimus, E., Warren, D.K., Karcz, A., Chan, C., Menchaca, J.T., Wang, R., Gruber, S., Klompas, M., “CDC Prevention Epicenter Program” (2017). Incidence and trends in sepsis in U.S. hospitals from clinical and claims data, 2009–2014. JAMA, 318(13), 1241–1249. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.13836AND