Sepsis: Improving Prevention, Diagnosis and Clinical Management

With no quick fix in sight, only vigilance and testing can help prevent death from sepsis—the dysregulated immune response that is responsible for 270,000 deaths per year. Justin Glasgow, MD, the physician advisor for sepsis at UAB Medicine, discusses best practices for identifying and classifying sepsis, as well as those for treating its root infections. He discusses the importance of following the CMS reporting requirements protocol for sepsis, which includes checking lactic acid, taking blood a blood culture, and administering antibiotics or fluids depending on severity. Glasgow notes the importance of de-escalating treatment as a patient’s status improves to limit risk.