About one third of individuals who die while hospitalized have sepsis during that hospitalization, yet more than 1400 hospitals in the United States report not having a sepsis program, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Medscape spoke with CDC contributors Raymund Dantes, MD, MPH, and Hallie Prescott, MD, MSc, about the agency's new Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements, created to help clinicians improve sepsis outcomes.
Why did the CDC develop the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements?
Dantes: The Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements (or "Sepsis Core Elements") were created to help empower hospitals to create or enhance current sepsis programs in an effort to better protect patients. The Core Elements build upon prior large-scale efforts to improve sepsis outcomes, including clinical guidelines and regulatory initiatives. Many hospitals have developed sepsis programs to implement recommended practices. However, the composition, charge, and effectiveness of hospital sepsis programs vary. Since nearly 1 in 3 people who die in a hospital had sepsis during that hospitalization, CDC recognized an opportunity to share a toolkit that would help hospitals assess and implement best practices for sepsis programs that save lives.
The Sepsis Core Elements are inspired by the CDC's Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs, which helped catalyze the development of antimicrobial stewardship programs in the US that improve and optimize antimicrobial prescribing.
