Acute Care and ICU

Sepsis – a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to an infection – is a leading cause of mortality and critical illness worldwide. The Sepsis Alliance, an organization based in the United States and focused on improving sepsis awareness, has identified what it calls “sepsis coordinators.” It defines them as “expert leaders in the field of nursing with critical experience in caring for sepsis patients and developing and implementing sepsis protocols.”1

Sepsis presents challenges in the hospital setting that places medical-surgical nurses on the frontlines to identify and respond to this medical emergency. Four registered nurses with extensive sepsis backgrounds met recently to share their insights and experiences on the complexities of “solving sepsis” in the Medical-Surgical environment. Here are some highlights from their collaborative dialog.

Reusable and disposable medical supplies both have a place in our healthcare system, but when it comes to supporting aseptic practices that help to lower healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates, disposable medical supplies provide a level of certainty that reusable supplies cannot.

The very nature of healthcare work puts critical care nurses, doctors, therapists, and others in direct contact with infected individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant strain on critical care workers, and estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention1 show that 6 percent of individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 were healthcare workers. Additionally, the BMJ2 reports that healthcare workers may be up to seven times more likely to develop severe symptoms of COVID-19 compared with workers in other occupations.

A crisp, detailed ultrasound image is essential for Dr. Bernard Delvaux, a member of Quincy Anesthésie, a team of France’s leading anesthesiologists. He explains the pinpoint precision required when carrying out a regional block, an injection of anesthetic that numbs a patient’s nerves before surgery. “The nerve is one- or two-millimeters width, and the needle has to come close without being inside the nerve,” he explains “That’s why ultrasound has taken a very important place in our medical practice.”