Synergy Between Nurses And Automation Could Be Key To Finding Sepsis Early
A bedside computer loaded with software that tracks vital signs in the ICU can pick up early warning patterns, specialists say. But it takes a human care provider to sort the signal from the noise.
A quarter of a million Americans die every year from sepsis, which is the body's reaction to overwhelming infection. This cascade of organ failure can be nipped in the bud if health care workers know it's ramping up, but that's often not easy to do.
"Sepsis is a really frustrating disease," says Dr. David Carlbom, a critical care pulmonologist, and medical director of the sepsis program at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. "There's no blood test for sepsis," he says. "There's nothing you can look at under the microscope and say 'this is sepsis.' "
So a few years
