Sepsis is a dangerous, life-threatening medical condition, found in association with a known or suspected infection, usually caused by, but not limited to, bacteria.
Before using the sepsis functionality the only way for the staff at Al Khor
Hospital to identify patients at risk was through normal clinical assessment.
It is crucial for a deteriorating sepsis patient to be identified and treated within a golden window of four hours since the mortality associated with a diagnosed case of Sepsis is acknowledged to be approximately 40%.
The Cerner Sepsis agent was implemented at Al Khor Hospital shortly after the initial Cerner go-live (March 2014), and is now included as standard build across the HMC enterprise. It continuously monitors key clinical indicators and attempts to recognize a potentially septic pattern.
As the agent finds potential risks for sepsis, an alert is sent through the
Electronic Health Record to notify care givers.
This paper shows that over the last 11 months the sepsis algorithm has had an appreciable impact on the care of patients at Al Khor Hospital.
The algorithm DETECTED that 10% of admitted patients were at risk of deterioration and in danger of developing Sepsis.
There has been a REDUCTION in the number of patients moving from being at risk of Sepsis to developing Sepsis. (SIRS to Sepsis progression from 39% down to 17%).
We were able to extrapolate a number of predicted LIVES SAVED as a consequence of this increased surveillance. 64 Lives over 11 months at Al
Khor.
Overview
Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has been the principal public health care provider in the State of Qatar for over three decades.
HMC manages eight hospitals, incorporating five specialist hospitals and three community hospitals. HMC also manages the National
Ambulance Service as well as home health care, both accredited by Joint Commission
International.
The corporation is leading the development of the region's first academic health system and building the health care expertise in Qatar by collaborating with key experts, including Weill
Cornell Medical College-Qatar, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Partners
Healthcare, Boston.
Al Khor Hospital at a glance

115 beds
 Opened in 2005
 Services: pediatrics, labor and delivery, dermatology, emergency care, nephrology, physiotherapy and general surgery
 10,213 inpatient admissions over the period of the study (11 months)

Live with Cerner Millennium March 2014
 First Hospital at HMC Qatar to go-live
Cerner Middle East FZ-LLC / Office Park Building, 3rd Floor Tecom Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates / Tel: +971 4 375 4900 / www.cerner.ae

DETECTION
The SIRS rule alerts clinicians of a patient at risk of developing full blown sepsis. The team found out that 10 percent of patients admitted fulfil the criteria for SIRS (1025/10213). This matched the expectation based on globally reported
SIRS/sepsis risk in an inpatient environment.
AVOIDANCE
When clinicians were made aware of patient results suggesting SIRS, they were able to take early action to reverse a deteriorating clinical picture. The graph below shows that the clinicians at Al Khor appear to be preventing patients with a
SIRS alert deteriorating to a more Serious Sepsis Alert.
LIVES SAVED
It is assumed that global mortality for sepsis is 40 percent (survivingsepsis.org) and that the positive predictive value of the s epsis alert is 21.25 percent (Hersey study data). With those assumptions, we extrapolate the potential predicted mortality due to sepsis at 75 patients for the period June 2014 - April 2015 .
HMC mortality data shows that only 11 patients died with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis. The difference between predicted and actual sepsis mortality suggests 64 lives saved.
Cerner Middle East FZ-LLC / Office Park Building, 3rd Floor Tecom Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates / Tel: +971 4 375 4900 / www.cerner.ae
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