The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has started a new program that seeks to reduce deaths from sepsis in U.S. hospitals.
The CDC recently launched its Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements initiative to ensure that U.S. hospitals have the necessary resources and personnel to deal with sepsis cases.
“CDC’s latest survey of 5,221 hospitals found 73 percent report having sepsis teams, but only half (55 percent) report that team leaders are provided with dedicated time to manage sepsis programs.”
Almost any infection, including COVID-19, RSV, and influenza, can lead to sepsis. The agency pointed out that 87 percent of adult sepsis patients are brought to hospitals with an infection that isn’t getting better.
The CDC’s sepsis program focuses on seven elements, which include implementing structures and processes that improve the identification, management, and recovery from sepsis; measuring sepsis epidemiology and progress toward goals; appointing leaders for program outcomes; and providing sepsis education to health care professionals, among others.
“Sepsis is taking too many lives. [1 in 3] people who dies in a hospital has sepsis during that hospitalization,” CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in the Aug. 24 statement. “Rapid diagnosis and immediate appropriate treatment, including antibiotics, are essential to saving lives, yet the challenges of awareness about and recognition of sepsis are enormous.”
“That’s why CDC is calling on all U.S. hospitals to have a sepsis program and raise the bar on sepsis care by incorporating these seven core elements.”
Condition Starts With an Existing Infection
The immune system protects the body from several infections and illnesses. However, if the system goes into overdrive, it can be dangerous. Sepsis is caused when an existing infection in an individual triggers an extreme immune system reaction.
Under normal conditions, the immune system would react to an infection by releasing chemicals. However, when the system is in overdrive, the body can end up suffering from extensive inflammation.
While bacteria are responsible for most sepsis cases, viruses such as COVID-19 and fungal infections can also result in sepsis.
“Most cases of sepsis start before a patient goes to the hospital. Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lung, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death,” the CDC warns.
“Nearly a quarter to a third of people with sepsis had a health care visit in the week before they were hospitalized.”
Individuals who are at a higher risk of sepsis include those with weakened immune systems; people with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, kidney disease, and cancer; those who have survived sepsis previously; adults aged 65 or older; and children younger than a year old.
Some of the symptoms of a person with sepsis include a high heart rate or a weak pulse, shortness of breath, confusion or disorientation, and fever and shivering.
Treating Sepsis, Challenge to Spouses
One way to treat sepsis is by using antibiotics based on the type of infection. IV fluids can also be administered to prevent blood pressure from falling to dangerously low levels.Medications can include corticosteroids that help reduce inflammation in the body and vasopressors for those whose blood pressure has become too low. Patients may also be given oxygen through a ventilator, mask, or nasal cannula.
While treatment is one aspect of managing sepsis, the condition can pose challenges to people who care for such patients.
These spouses had no history of psychiatric disorders but developed disorders such as depression and anxiety after the release.
The probability of such mental illness was found to be greater among spouses whose partners stayed for a longer time in the hospital.
The risk of such psychiatric disorders developing was observed to be higher among spouses who were elderly women, those who had low incomes, or those who suffered from other medical conditions.
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