Attention Regulators: Patients with Severe Sepsis Do Not Arrive with Name Tags That Say “Hi, I'm Septic!”

Some patients don't meet the diagnostic criteria until >3 hours after presentation.

For emergency department (ED) patients with severe sepsis, the National Quality Forum and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use 3 hours after arrival as the deadline for compliance with certain quality measures. But is this target feasible, given that some patients likely do not meet the diagnostic criteria until after this time point?

To explore this issue, investigators conducted a retrospective analysis involving adults in two EDs who received a diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock during their ED stays. Of 505 patients, 70 (14%) did not meet the diagnostic criteria for these conditions until more than 3 hours after ED arrival.

Reviewing Author

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education

Attention Regulators: Patients with Severe Sepsis Do Not Arrive with Name Tags That Say “Hi, I'm Septic!”

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Reviewing Author