Are they exaggerating on sepsis or am i wrong?

[stepbystep12]

It seems like some, maybe most, nurses are using the word sepsis too much. It seems to me like every time there is an infection, someone is referring to it as sepsis. Every time we have an abscess, cellulitis or any other kind of a wound, you hear in the report that that patient came in with sepsis. When i look back in the said charts, i don't see doctors mentioning sepsis anywhere. Are they exaggerating or am i wrong on this?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

There are 2/ 4 criteria required to meet the diagnosis of sepsis. Fever, increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, or increased WBC.

You are spot on that throwing around the diagnosis of sepsis is wrong. The treatment of infection vs: sepsis is different. Sepsis requires the administration of anti-infectives and volume expanders and/or oxygen at 40 % or greater.

[Barnstormin' PMHNP]

Love these kind of threads!

[T-ROD, LPN]

Sepsis Survivor!!! In the local hospitals here it is not something that is discussed much or spoken about among staff. Maybe because we are small town and not many cases of true sepsis has been handled. Either way it is something that at least here needs to be spoken of a lot more.

I went in 5 days post delivery that had several complications. Admitted for Pyelonephritis and placed on an overflow floor. My temps reached 104 on more than one occasion. I had no urine output and within 3 days i gained nearly 35 pounds of fluid (they had a bag of fluids wide open). I had multi organ failure beginning and was on the verge of death to say it bluntly and my husband went and found this white coat, drug him to my room and begged him to save me. He pulled my chart and almost 32 hours before my blood results came back positive for E-Coli. He ordered the protocol for sepsis and discharged me 2 days later. I had side effects for a very long time after this. They just wasn't schooled enough in this area. And until it really happens in your department and you see how fast a person can die you might not understand either. I haven't seen it. I lived it. I don't think there is enough teachings on how to catch this and so staff just throw that word around like its just any other and its so much more than that. Just my thoughts!

[cleback]

Have you ever had someone go septic on you? Talking one minute... BP tanking and trendelenburg the next? It's scary. With the increasing numbers of immunocompromised (aged, chemo, biologics, transplant), number of invasive procedures being performed, and antibiotic resistance, I get why it's such a hot topic right now.