Looking Ahead: New Opportunities for Improving Sepsis Care and Outcomes

While our work and commitment to addressing sepsis span the entire year, Sepsis Awareness Month is when CDC and its partners put a figurative exclamation point on our sepsis activities and honor the patients and families impacted by this medical emergency and public health threat. For this Sepsis Awareness Month, CDC is highlighting what we have learned thus far about hospital sepsis programs and the opportunities for us to work together to improve processes and patient outcomes through these programs.

In August 2023, CDC released the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements (Sepsis Core Elements) to provide a framework for hospitals to improve sepsis outcomes. The Sepsis Core Elements aid in the fast recognition of sepsis, facilitate the implementation of evidence-based management of sepsis and support the recovery of patients after sepsis.

Additionally, CDC included several questions in the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) 2023 Annual Survey [PDF – 34 pages] to understand the current state of sepsis programs. That information will help us understand how the Sepsis Core Elements are working in U.S. hospitals, and where we should focus our efforts to drive better sepsis care.

The NHSN Annual Survey data* show that the number of U.S. hospitals with sepsis programs and resources to support them has modestly increased. Compared to 2022, 78% of hospitals reported having sepsis committees (up from 73%) in 2023; 59% of hospitals reported providing dedicated time for sepsis program leaders (up from 55%); and 66% of hospitals reported their sepsis committees involved Antibiotic Stewardship Programs (up from 55%).

The NHSN data also highlighted opportunities to improve hospital sepsis programs, including providing more support for patients recovering from sepsis and enhancing sepsis awareness for some groups of healthcare workers, such as certified nursing assistants and patient care technicians. These essential healthcare workers have a lot of face-to-face time with patients and can help in hospitals’ efforts to make sure the signs and symptoms of sepsis are identified as early as possible. Finally, most hospitals have tools and standardized approaches for diagnosing and treating sepsis, but not all track how helpful or acceptable these tools are for their staff, so they may be underused.

While the data represent facility practices over a relatively short period, it’s encouraging to see the progress being reported. CDC is dedicated to working with facilities to keep the momentum moving forward.

In fiscal year 2024, CDC received funds from Congress designated specifically for sepsis activities. Subsequently, CDC has invested in expanded sepsis data collection through NHSN, including implementation of the Sepsis Core Elements. This will further our ability to assess and improve processes in place to care for patients with sepsis and measure progress in improving patient outcomes. This year, CDC is also expanding its suite of materials to reach communities and schools with information about sepsis in children.

Sepsis care is complex; improving how we detect and care for patients with sepsis requires all of us to work together to raise awareness, understand where opportunities for improvement exist, and engage with patients who have been affected by sepsis, like Katy Grainger, the families who have lost their loved ones, Erin Flatley,  Clover Harrold, Rory Staunton, and others; together, we can stop sepsis from impacting more families.  We are honored to continue to work alongside our many passionate and dedicated partners.

Learn more about the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements and CDC’s national educational effort, Get Ahead of Sepsis.

 *The NHSN Annual Survey data include input from 5,254 U.S. acute care hospitals from January to June 2024 representing 2023 practices.

Author:

Mike Bell, MD
Division Director, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion