Published by: Health Leaders
Written by: Christopher Cheney
A sepsis early warning system at a Cleveland-based health system triggered an alert in the electronic health record and a notification message to emergency department pharmacists.
An early warning system for sepsis embedded in an electronic health record (EHR) can have a significant impact on sepsis care, according to a recent research article.
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the body’s extreme reaction to an infection. Annually, at least 1.7 million American adults develop sepsis and about 270,000 Americans die due to sepsis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The recent research article, which was published by Critical Care Medicine, describes the results of a randomized, controlled quality improvement initiative conducted at The MetroHealth System in Cleveland. The article features data collected from 598 patients, with 285 patients in the intervention group and 313 in the standard care group.
The intervention involved using a sepsis early warning system embedded in the health system’s EHR. The early warning system is based on structured EHR variables used to predict whether a patient will develop sepsis during their hospitalization. The variables include demographic data, Click here to read the rest of the article
