68 Minutes Sooner: Life-Saving Sepsis Treatment for Kids

After creating a screening algorithm in Epic, Nationwide Children’s Hospital can identify pediatric patients with sepsis an average of 68 minutes earlier than they previously did with manual evaluation. About 7,000 kids under five die in the U.S. every year of sepsis and its complications. Identifying that a patient has sepsis earlier leads to a better chance of survival.

Nationwide created a scoring system that uses conditions documented in the Epic chart, such as high fever, tachycardia, or hypotension, to calculate a patient’s sepsis risk. Instead of a clinician needing to manually identify these signs, decision support tools alert the care team as soon as the patient meets the criteria for sepsis. Clinicians then hold a sepsis huddle to discuss next steps, which means patients receive the treatment they need more quickly.

Read the full study in Applied Clinical Informatics. Epic community members can view Nationwide’s presentation and listen to the audio, as well as read the clinical program.