The Causes And Treatment Of Sepsis

The septicemic version is defined as a fast growing bacteria which if not treated properly and fast enough would eventually lead to death. What would happen inside the body would be that the bacteria would disable your body’s ability from being able to clot blood. The infected would become very itchy all over their body to the point where they made themselves bleed from everywhere. Eventually the victim would have massive blood loss leading to

Sepsis is both best known yet most poorly understood medical disorders [1]. Sepsis leads to shock, multiple organ failure and death if not recognized early and treated promptly [2]. It is a serious clinical condition that represents a patient’s response to infection and has a high mortality rate [3]. Sepsis remains the dominant challenge in the care of critically ill patients [4]. Up to 19 million cases of sepsis worldwide per annum is estimated. The true incidence is higher [1]. Sepsis is associated with a mortality rate of 25 - 30% and mortality due to septic shock is 50-85% [6-8]. Patients with sepsis requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission had high rates of ICU and overall hospital mortality, ranging from 18 to 50% [9-12]. The most common sites of infection are

The aim of this assignment is to critically discuss the nursing assessment individualised care and nursing interventions of the acutely ill patient. The patient discussed developed severe sepsis due to a urinary tract infection and her condition deteriorated during the recovery process in the nurse’s care. Lovick (2009) defines sepsis ‘as a known or suspected infection accompanied by evidence of two or more of the SIRS criteria’. SIRS is outlined as a ‘systemic inflammatory response’ consisting of two or more of the following symptoms ‘temperature >38 degrees Celsius or 90 beats per minute, respiratory rates greater than 20 breaths per minute and white blood count higher than 12,000 cells per microliter or lower than 4000 cells per

The systemic inflammatory response is the next step in the continuum and is a nonspecific inflammatory state that may be seen with an infection. Sepsis is the presence of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) with evidence of infection. As the bacteria invade the bloodstream, they release endotoxins that damage the endothelial cell lining and impair the vascular system, coagulation mechanism, and immune system. These endotoxins also trigger the immune and inflammatory responses, which results in the activation of macrophages and CD4 cells that release proinflammatory cytokines to create a systemic inflammatory response to the pathogen. Hospitalized patients may quickly progress from bacteremia to sepsis and finally to septic shock, even with treatment.

Discuss the cascade of host inflammatory responses that produce the major detrimental effects seen in sepsis due to gram-negative bacteria.

The number of documented cases has been rising every year. “This may be due to the aging population, the increased longevity of people with chronic disease, the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms, an upsurge in invasive procedures and broader use of immunosuppressive and chemotherapeutic agents” (National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 2014). The mortality rate for sepsis ranges from about thirty percent for patients with sepsis to fifty percent in patients who develop septic shock. Mortality rate varies as to how many organs have been affected. Twenty percent mortality for one organ failure, forty percent for two organs failing, sixty-five to seventy percent for three failed organs, and seventy-five to eighty-five percent when four or more organs have failed. The cost related to sepsis is about seventeen billion dollars per year (about twenty-two thousand dollars per patient), which is six times greater than the cost of patients without sepsis.

Sepsis is defined by the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) as “the presence (probable or documented) of infection together with systemic manifestations of infection” (Dellinger et al.,

Sepsis is a rapidly progressive illness that must be treated early with antibiotics and supportive care.

Sepsis is a life-threatening and potentially fatal condition caused by the body’s reaction to an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals normally released in the bloodstream to fight infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This can result in damage to multiple organs, which can cause organ damage and, in some cases, death.

Septic shock results from bacteria that multiply in the blood and then releases toxins that decrease blood pressure, thus, impairing blood flow to cells, tissues and organs. It is an acute infection, usually systemic, that overwhelms the body (toxic shock syndrome) (Huether & Mccance, 2012). This

Septicemia is an infection from a life threatening complication, such as pneumonia, kidney infections, a gunshot wound or have been severely burned. Septicemia is also known as bacteremia or blood poisoning, if it is left untreated it might progress into sepsis. Some symptoms pertaining to Septicemia are reduced urine volume, rapid respiration, fever and confusion to think clearly.

et al., 2008). Sepsis is a frequent cause of admission to intensive care units (ICUs) and it

Knapp (2012) describes sepsis as the systemic inflammatory response to a pathogen. Sepsis can be a fatal condition which occurs when the body retaliates to an infection by attacking the body’s own tissues and organs. Sepsis has many symptoms that can be attributed to other illness such as flu, which can make it difficult to recognise and treat in time (CDC Sepsis 2016). Due to this every year in the UK there are 150,000 cases of sepsis, which leads to 44,000 deaths, in perspective sepsis results in more deaths than bowel, breast and prostate cancer collectively (Sepsis Trust, 2016). Sepsis costs the NHS £15.6 billion a year (Sepsis Trust 2016). As the NMC code of conduct describes, healthcare professionals have a ‘duty of condor’ to preserve the safety of patients, reducing the potentials of harm and mistakes to the service users (NMC Code of Conduct 2015), thus with improved management and early detection of sepsis e.g. beginning a course of antibiotics within the hour of detection, will not only save the NHS £2.8 billion a year but thousands of lives (Sepsis Trust 2016).

The word “sepsis” is derived from the ancient Greek word for rotten flesh and putrefaction. Since then, a wide variety of definitions have been applied to sepsis, including sepsis syndrome, severe sepsis, bacteremia, septicemia and septic shock In 1991, the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) developed a new set of terms and definitions to define sepsis in a more “precise manner” [1, 2]. These definitions take into account the findings that sepsis may result from a multitude of infectious agents and microbial mediators and may not be associated with detectable bloodstream infection. The term “systemic inflammatory response syndrome” (SIRS) was coined to describe the com- mon systemic response to a wide variety of insults. When SIRS was the result of a suspected or confirmed infectious process, it is termed “sepsis”.

are infected with a severe infection or lack of water in the body, because of low blood pressure.4