The Subtle Signs of Sepsis Infographic

Sepsis has been a major challenge in healthcare for a long time. This was highlighted really well on the Wolters Kluwer Nursing Center website:

Throughout my experience in health care over the past 30 plus years, the diagnosis of sepsis has been one of the most challenging. Sepsis affects millions of people worldwide and one in four of the people affected will die. The way we recognize and treat sepsis has changed over the years, and in January 2017, the International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2016 was published. This update to the 2012 guidelines, emphasizes that patients with sepsis should be viewed as having a medical emergency, necessitating urgent assessment and treatment.

According to the Advisory Board, the average direct cost per case for a primary sepsis diagnosis is $18,700, yet the typical Medicare reimbursement for sepsis and sepsis with complications is just $7,100-12,000. It’s no wonder so many hospitals are worried about sepsis.

I’ve been impressed with the way technology has been used to address the problem of Sepsis. I’ve seen a lot of companies working to use analytics to predict sepsis or identify it in real time as it’s happening. I recently saw where Wolters Kluwer partnered with Vocera to be able to connect the Sepsis risk analysis data with the providers, carrying Vocera badges, who can make the proper diagnosis and start treatment in the early stages when Sepsis is most treatable.

This kind of collaboration between healthcare IT vendors is the only way we’re going to make a dent in major healthcare problems like Sepsis. So, I applaud these two companies for working together.

For those that don’t know, September is Sepsis Awareness Month. As part of this month long recognition of Sepsis, Wolters Kluwer put together an infographic that shows the subtle signs of sepsis. While technology can certainly help with Sepsis identification and treatment, there’s still an important human element as well. This infographic highlights the signs that healthcare providers can and should look for and methods of treatment.

What efforts have you seen effective in identifying and treating sepsis in your healthcare organization?

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

   

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