Image courtesy of the CDC.

One in three people who die in the hospital have sepsis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A variety of guidelines for sepsis care have been available to clinicians for the past two decades but only about half of U.S. hospitals have dedicated leaders managing their sepsis programs, which is a key factor for successful outcomes.

To address this issue and others, the CDC has published a sepsis program assessment tool—Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements: 2023. The report lays out the key features of effective programs to help hospitals improve and monitor management of sepsis across the range of patient care, from the pregnancy and postpartum periods to pediatric and adult care. For hospitals without a sepsis program or limited resources, it includes recommendations on how to get a program started.

The core elements, which can be applied for a single hospital or an entire health care system, include hospital leadership that commits to providing human, financial, and information technology resources for the program, as well as a team that is accountable for goals and outcomes. A multidisciplinary team is recognized as important for identifying, tracking, and reporting sepsis to relevant partners, and for providing education to health care workers, patients, families, and caregivers.

The CDC core elements are intended to be flexible so hospitals and health care facilities can choose which would be most useful to optimize sepsis care. Read the full document at www.cdc.gov/sepsis/core-elements.html.—Gail M. Pfeifer, MA, RN