World Sepsis Day: Long-Term Care Settings

Posted in INDUSTRY NEWS, Long-Term Care

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP
Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare

Yesterday (Tuesday, September 13, 2022) was World Sepsis Day. Here’s some information from the CDC on this very important topic:

Today is World Sepsis Day–a day where people come together to raise awareness about the fight against sepsis–a life-threatening medical emergency that affects millions of people each year.

This year, CDC reflects on the unique challenges in preventing, diagnosing, and treating infections that can lead to sepsis in long-term care (LTC) settings. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2015, there were 1.5 million residents living in nursing homes/skilled nursing facilities and almost 919,000 in assisted living. Residents in LTC settings are often at increased risk of developing sepsis due to risk factors, such as older age and chronic conditions.

Education to help LTC healthcare professionals prevent, diagnose, and treat infections that can lead to sepsis in LTC settings is critical. Sepsis is a medical emergency; without timely treatment, it can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Read more on CDC’s Safe Healthcare blog post about sepsis in LTC settings by CDC LTC expert, Heather Jones, DNP, NP-C.

CDC remains committed to the goal of protecting patients, of all ages and in all settings, and to its responsibility to reduce the impact of sepsis.

Please read Heather’s Protecting Long-Term Care Residents from Sepsis blog which speaks to:

  • Challenges with Identifying Sepsis in LTC Settings
  • Overcoming Challenges
  • Why Is This So Important?
  • Review comments from non-CDC personnel
  • Submit your comments

I strongly encourage you and your team to review the information beneath the hyperlinks in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th paragraphs of this blog.  Sepsis is indeed life-threatening. My father died of sepsis 27 years ago; I’ve also lost a good friend to sepsis. You may have lost family and friends to sepsis as well as residents you’ve provided care for.

Consider these facts:

We all need to learn more about sepsis and be aware of this emergency every day of the year. Timely recognition of sepsis along with expedient treatment will save lives. There are things we can do to prevent infections that lead to sepsis.