Sepsis Early Detection and Treatment
Running Head: SEPSIS DETECTION AND TREATMENT
Sepsis Early Detection and Treatment
Steven H. Gregory
Chamberlain College of Nursing
March28, 2009
Sepsis Early Detection and Treatment Severe Sepsis affects 750,000 Americans and causes more than 200,000 deaths annually. Sepsis is a complex condition that results from an infectious process that represents the body's response to infection and involves systemic inflammatory and cellular events that result in altered circulation and coagulation, endothelial dysfunction and impaired tissue perfusion (Kleinpell, 2005). Associated mortality rates with sepsis in the United States have remained largely unchanged for several decades. Through an international collaboration known as the Surviving Sepsis Campaign formed in 2002 under the sponsorship of the International Sepsis Forum, it was recommended that evidence-based guidelines be used for the treatment of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. From these guidelines, recommendations of the development of an initial resuscitation bundle and then followed by a management bundle came from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Durthaler, Ernst & Johnston, 2009).
Early Detection Sepsis can be defined as a systemic inflammatory response syndrome in response to infection. Severe sepsis is associated with acute organ dysfunction (Durthaler et al., 2009). Sepsis can be identified in a patient with two indicators of systemic inflammatory response syndrome along with a known or suspected infection. For successful treatment of sepsis, early recognition and rapid response are vital as the progression to severe sepsis and then septic shock can be quick. While severe sepsis requires treatment in a critical care area, its recognition is often made outside of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). With nurses being at the side of a patient from admission to discharge, this places them in an ideal position to be first to recognize sepsis. Assessments by nurses need to
Sepsis Early Detection and Treatment
Steven H. Gregory
Chamberlain College of Nursing
March28, 2009
Sepsis Early Detection and Treatment Severe Sepsis affects 750,000 Americans and causes more than 200,000 deaths annually. Sepsis is a complex condition that results from an infectious process that represents the body's response to infection and involves systemic inflammatory and cellular events that result in altered circulation and coagulation, endothelial dysfunction and impaired tissue perfusion (Kleinpell, 2005). Associated mortality rates with sepsis in the United States have remained largely unchanged for several decades. Through an international collaboration known as the Surviving Sepsis Campaign formed in 2002 under the sponsorship of the International Sepsis Forum, it was recommended that evidence-based guidelines be used for the treatment of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. From these guidelines, recommendations of the development of an initial resuscitation bundle and then followed by a management bundle came from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Durthaler, Ernst & Johnston, 2009).
Early Detection Sepsis can be defined as a systemic inflammatory response syndrome in response to infection. Severe sepsis is associated with acute organ dysfunction (Durthaler et al., 2009). Sepsis can be identified in a patient with two indicators of systemic inflammatory response syndrome along with a known or suspected infection. For successful treatment of sepsis, early recognition and rapid response are vital as the progression to severe sepsis and then septic shock can be quick. While severe sepsis requires treatment in a critical care area, its recognition is often made outside of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). With nurses being at the side of a patient from admission to discharge, this places them in an ideal position to be first to recognize sepsis. Assessments by nurses need to