Sepsis is just as urgent as a heart attack, warns Southampton doctor

smallframe

The NICE guideline includes recommendations to help health professionals working in any NHS setting recognise sepsis as soon as possible. Signs and symptoms are presented in clear tables to help clinicians assess each person’s risk based on their age and where they are being treated. People at high-risk of severe illness from sepsis in primary care should be referred by ambulance to hospital. Once in hospital they should be seen by a senior doctor or nurse straightaway who can start treatment.

Professor Mark Baker, director of the NICE Centre for Guidelines said: “Once identified, sepsis can be treated very quickly and people are more likely to make a full recovery. We know that when hospitals are well prepared, clinicians do better at responding to patients with sepsis. However recent reports have revealed that many hospitals have no formal protocols for recognising and responding to sepsis.

“If there is any delay in spotting the signs we will fail patients by leaving them with debilitating problems, or in the worst cases people will die. This guideline will be the first to provide advice based on the best available evidence on how to quickly identify and treat people with sepsis.”

The UK Sepsis Trust worked with NICE to update its range of clinical toolkits in line with the NICE guideline.

Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust said: “Sepsis is a condition whose time has come. We must act decisively to save many of the thousands of lives claimed every year.

“The UK Sepsis Trust exists to drive improved outcomes in sepsis and, as the only charity combining clinical leadership with support for those affected by sepsis, we welcome this new guideline as a unique and significant opportunity to effect change across the UK and beyond.

“Our revised clinical tools, together with this important guideline, provide the most cohesive national strategy to prevent deaths from sepsis in the world.”

Early symptoms of sepsis may include fast breathing or a fast heartbeat, high or low temperature, chills and shivering, and people may or may not have a fever. Severe symptoms can develop soon after, when blood pressure becomes very low, leading to dizziness, disorientation, slurred speech, mottled skin, nausea and vomiting. Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.

Source: University of Southampton

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
Recommended article from FiveFilters.org: Most Labour MPs in the UK Are Revolting.

Sepsis is just as urgent as a heart attack, warns Southampton doctor