Sepsis is a serious condition caused by infections, and a leading cause of hospitalization and death across the world. In the US alone, sepsis causes over 250,000 deaths and 1.3 million hospitalizations every year. The annual cost of sepsis treatment to the US healthcare system is $23.7 billion dollars, making sepsis the most expensive condition treated in US hospitals.
The key to surviving sepsis is rapid recognition and treatment with antibiotics, fluids and other drugs that stabilize blood pressure. Current guidelines recommend administering IV antibiotics within 1 hour of diagnosis, and giving IV fluids and performing other treatment steps within 3 and 6 hours depending on symptom severity. However, in busy hospital environments, delays can easily occur leading to avoidable complications and deaths.
Sepsis Timer is a timed checklist and simple clinical decision support tool designed to help busy hospital clinicians perform key treatment steps within prescribed time intervals. Simply start a timer when a patient is diagnosed with sepsis and the app will list the necessary treatment steps and alert you when these steps are due. To turn off the alerts, simply check off the required steps.
The treatment steps and timelines used in Sepsis Timer are based on Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines that are also recommended by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Sepsis Timer features include:
- Compliance with SSC sepsis bundles, and IHI and CMS SEP-1 Core Measure sepsis treatment guidelines
- Simple and intuitive user interface
- Configurable alert options include periodic and snooze alerts with customizable sounds
- Response time tracking records time to completion of treatment steps and bundles
- Simple statistical report shows average response times for completed timers over time
- Thorough user manual and explanations for all treatment steps and app functions
- Basic background information on sepsis diagnosis and treatment; for more in-depth information please use our Sepsis Clinical Guide app
This app is intended for physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals managing the care of critically ill patients in a hospital environment.