Evaluation and optimisation of sepsis risk identification tools

Evaluation and optimisation of risk identification tools for the early detection of sepsis in adult inpatients

Project Members - Macquarie University

Dr Ling Li
Associate Professor

Dr Scott Walter
Research Fellow

Dr Kasun Rathnayake
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Professor Johanna Westbrook
Professor and Director

Project Members - External

Malcolm Green (Clinical Excellence Commission)
Mary Fullick (Clinical Excellence Commission)
Dr. Harvey Lander (Clinical Excellence Commission)
Susan Isemonger (eHealth NSW)
Adrian Thomas (eHealth NSW)
Michael Meller (Western Sydney LHD)
Catriona Middleton-Rennie (Western Sydney LHD)

Project Main Description

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that contributes considerably to the burden of disease in the population. However, poor patient outcomes related to sepsis can be significantly ameliorated by early identification of at-risk patients.

The aims of this project were:

1. to evaluate the performance of three risk identification tools for early detection of sepsis cases in adult inpatients during hospital admissions, and
2. to develop two sets of optimised tools applicable at the bedside and for an electronic system. Three tools assessed were: two bedside tools manually calculated by clinical staff (the quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment [qSOFA] score and the Adult Sepsis Pathway); and one electronic decision support tool embedded in the electronic Medication Record systems (the Modified St. John Rule)

This project was the first to evaluate the Adult Sepsis Pathway and the Modified St. John Rule in New South Wales, and to compare the performance between these two tools and the qSOFA score. We used more than 130,000 patient admissions from 34 healthcare facilities across metropolitan, rural and regional localities to evaluate these tools and explore improved alternatives.

Resources

Evaluation and optimisation of sepsis risk identification tools

Project Status

Completed

Centres Related to this Project

Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research