Everything RTs need to know about Sepsis

This post was originally published on January 29, 2008. It is part of the classics of the RT Cave collection. While some of this is outdated, most of it is not.

So, in our quest to become more well rounded therapists, we must now look into another common condition, a condition that is the leading cause of death in critical care units.

For starters, we need to know that is is the leading cause of death in critical care units. Of the 750,000 patients it effects every year, 250,000 will die. These statistics cannot, and are not, being ignored. Hospitals continue to work overtime to create guidelines to help caregivers both recognize and diagnose sepsis so those who have it can get the treatment they need. Likewise, efforts can be made to recognize who is at risk for developing sepsis so it can be prevented.

These statistics have gone pretty much unchanged since the early 1980s. So, even with modern knowledge and technology, hospitals have been unable to break this trend. Yet they are, as noted above, working overtime to do just that.

But there is another side of sepsis that we must look at, and this is the financial side. While the experts will tell you and me that they are working overtime to make changes that improve lives, the bottom line is usually money. And this is the case here as well. For instance, according to the MUST protocol (which is now outdated, and the link is outdated as well), cost estimates nationwide tend to scale into the $17 billion category. I'm not sure what the data is for each individual hospital, but I imagine it's a lot of money, most of which hospitals eat.

So, sepsis is expensive. Actually, we can probably go deeper than this, and say that Medicare probably forced hospitals to look at this. Now, many hospitals had already begun their own research into it, but the government seemed to force their hands, so to speak. I'm not blaming government here, I'm just saying, sepsis kills, it costs a lot of money, and efforts are ongoing to improve upon them.

So, with the hope that hospitals would create sepsis protocols (many are now well beyond a gamut of committee) of their own, the MUST protocol was created to be used as a guideline protocol. According to the protocol itself, most hospitals have not adapted it (although this has changed since the original publication of this article). but I do know that many hospitals are looking into creating their own sepsis protocols (most already have).

So, what is sepsis. It's caused by an injury. Your body is infected by a pathogen, most likely a bacteria. Your immune system recognizes this. T-cells identify them as harmful, and initiates an all out immune response. This ultimately causes cells in the infected area to leak their fluid, and this causes inflammation. This response is necessary to trap pathogens.

Inflammatory mediators are released into the blood stream and sent to the area of infection to cause inflammation. Ironically, sepsis is a pathological process caused by the widespread release of these inflammatory markers into the bloodstream, with or without an initiating infection. When these get to organs, they can injure them, even cause them to fail, resulting in death.

There's a little more to it that what I just described, although it's all a respiratory therapist needs to know.  The basic theory here is early recognition and early treatment can greatly diminish injury, and reduce the death rate from sepsis. This, in turn, can reduce healthcare costs.

(Although, ironically, the costs to individual hospitals rises considerably. This is especially true as they do many procedures automatically on anyone who meets criteria for the sepsis protocol. Medicare will usually be the only one who saves money,and that's usually all that matters.  But I digress.)

Here are the early signs of Sepsis:

A. Suspected Infection

B. Two of the following: Meeting two of these should trigger the sepsis protocol (editors note: This may have changed slightly since then).

1. Temperature greater than 100.4, <96 .8="" li="">
2. Fast heart rate, or greater than 90 beats per minute
3. Fast respiratory rate, or greater than 20 breaths per minute, or a PaCO2 that is elevated above a person's baseline (for this reason, an ABG is usually included in the sepsis protocol. Likewise, a pH that is acidotic can be an early sign of organ failure)
4. <32>High white blood cell count (greater than 12,000 or <4000>10% bands)

C. Systemic blood pressure <90>

D. Lactate greater than 4.0 or elevated LDH

E. Decreased platelets (watch for DIC)

F. Decreased PaO2, or a PaO2 below normal for that patient

G. Altered mental status not due to drugs may signify organ failure.

Here are the signs of Severe Sepsis:

A. Patient receiving antibiotics & needs Vasopressor (this is a dangerous sign).

B. Pt showing signs of organ failure in 2 + systems for <= 24 hrs.
<90>
C. Patient showing signs of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, DIC, or Multi System Organ Failure.

There, that's pretty much all you need to know. These are all things you can learn from a quick assessment, which may entail talking to the patient or family members, talking with doctors and nurses, or simply by looking into the patient's chart. We at the RT Cave think it's always a good idea to look a the patient's laboratory results anyway, if time allows.

From there doctors and nurses use their magic potions to fix the patient. This may entail Activated Protein C, the only drug to show any efficacy in sepsis. It may also entail antibiotics and steroids. It may also include vasopressors to control blood pressure.

Central Venous Catheter administration may be indicated to adjust vasopressors, to monitor fluids, and to determine if a blood transfusion is indicated. These and other therapies may be prescribed just in case it might do something, which is often the issue with administering albuberol for sepsis and heart failure. So, you never know, albuterol might also be indicated for sepsis.

It's nice to know all this, although it comes secondary to whatever our job is at the time. The hardest part about treating patients is getting to the bottom of what's causing their symptoms, and you and I both know a breathing treatment with albuterol is often a top-line option. So, while you're standing there waiting for the treatment to get done, you can do some investigating for the true cause of that shortness of breath, or whatever symptoms you are treating.

Still, I have had times when the true diagnosis eludes even the best nurses and doctors, and in these cases it's nice to have a well rounded RT come into the scene and say, "Hey, maybe this is what the true cause is!"

Edited on July 5, 2016, by John Bottrell