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
Healthcare providers should immediately evaluate and treat people who might have sepsis.
Presentation
Common physical presentation:
- Fever
- Increased heart rate
- Low blood pressure
Testing
Healthcare providers perform tests that check for signs of infection or organ damage.
Some of these tests are used to identify the germ that caused the infection that led to sepsis. This testing might include:
- Blood cultures looking for bacterial infections or fungal infections.
- Tests for viral infections, like influenza.
Treatment if you suspect sepsis
- Follow your facility's policies and procedures for diagnosing and managing sepsis.
- Immediately alert the healthcare providers 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 and often antibiotics. Early and frequent reassessment of patients with sepsis should be undertaken to determine the appropriate duration and type of therapy.
Actions you can take
Use sepsis clinical tools
A resource for the hospital toolkit for adult sepsis surveillance
Webinar with instructions on how to use the Assessment Tool.
Monitor and optimize hospital management and outcomes of sepsis.
See how Ochsner’s Solutions implemented the Sepsis Core Elements.
Diagnose and treat sepsis promptly
International clinical guidelines for managing sepsis and septic shock in pediatrics and adults.
Guide for emergency department healthcare providers to identify and manage sepsis.
Evidence-based recommendations for improving pediatric sepsis outcomes.
Calculator to assess the risk of early-onset sepsis in infants born > 34 weeks gestation.
View sepsis trainings
Free sepsis education and resources for healthcare providers, survivors, caregivers and loved ones.
Award-winning training video for EMS personnel.
Training video focused on pediatric sepsis response for EMS personnel.
Educate yourself and your patients
Share sepsis materials
Download or order materials to educate yourself and your loved ones about sepsis.
Download or order materials to educate yourself and your colleagues about sepsis.
CDC is educating patients and healthcare providers about sepsis.
Have conversations with patients about actions they can take
- Prevent infections.
- During periods of high respiratory virus activity, consider wearing a mask when around people outside your household.
- Get recommended vaccines.
- Take good care of chronic conditions
- Practice good hygiene.
- Keep cuts and wounds clean and covered until healed.
- Keep hands clean.
- Know the signs and symptoms of sepsis.
- Act fast. Sepsis is a medical emergency
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