September is Sepsis Awareness Month

Posted on: 8/30/17

Sepsis is diagnosed in more than one million patients each year in the U.S., with an estimated mortality rate of 28-50 percent. Sepsis is costly, resulting in an estimated $20.3 billion in health care costs, 5.2 percent of the total cost for all hospitalizations in 2011. Sepsis is treatable, especially with early recognition and care.

September is Sepsis Awareness Month and an opportunity to evaluate available sepsis resources and evidence-based practice for early recognition and treatment, and bring attention to what sepsis is, what it does and how we can make a difference and save lives.  

Forty-six hospital teams participating in the OHA Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (OHA HIIN) set a goal to decrease sepsis mortality by 20 percent by September 2019 by implementing best practices for early recognition and treatment of sepsis patients, using the AHA/HRET Sepsis and Septic Shock Change Package. The Change Package includes samples of patient sepsis screening tools, the three- and six-hour bundles of care, a Sepsis Mortality Reduction Top Ten Checklist of best practices, visual aids and references, and may be accessed here. Additionally, the OHA Sepsis Collaborative is nearing the end of Year Two, which focuses on early treatment using the three- and six-hour bundles of care.  

Recognizing Sepsis Awareness Month

There are many no and low-cost activities/resources available for Sepsis Awareness Month. Here are a few ideas:

Education for health care professionals:

• A new webinar series, Sepsis: Continuum of Care — Sepsis Alliance is creating a total of four webinars throughout the rest of the year targeting health care professionals. The first is coming up on Sept. 7 at 1p.m. CT (register here).
• Aimed at providing nurses a variety of sepsis resources, Sepsis Alliance has recently refreshed the Nurses’ Station page on Sepsis.org with new content, CME courses, articles about sepsis, and materials to assist with patient education.

Posters and Infographics for Staff, Patients and Visitors

• Sepsis Alliance is excited to debut a new poster and infographic series in time for Sepsis Awareness Month in September. Focusing on raising awareness about sepsis and its symptoms, these new posters and infographics are free to download and print for health care facilities.

Resources

• Sepsis Alliance
• Surviving Sepsis Campaign, a joint collaboration of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, committed to reducing mortality from severe sepsis and septic shock worldwide.
• Sepsis and Septic Shock Change Packet
• Fact Sheets from CMS – What is Sepsis?, Sepsis Fact Sheet, Life after Sepsis: What Sepsis Survivors Need to Know.

(Patrice Greenawalt)