Helping Doctors Combat Severe Sepsis

A new application provides clinical decision support tools on severe sepsis, delivering customer-specific care protocols on the patient monitor screen.

The ProtocolWatch application is based on the care guidelines developed by the surviving sepsis campaign (SSC), which defines the physiologic parameters that indicate the onset of severe sepsis. Since ProtocolWatch is actually built into the patient monitor, it can use the patient's vital signs to help clinicians screen for this deadly condition. Once one of the parameters that serve as an early warning sign for sepsis reaches the limits defined by the SSC protocol, a window appears on the monitor screen. This window prompts clinicians to check for other clinical signs of severe sepsis. If these signs are not present, ProtocolWatch resumes screening in the background.
If a clinician diagnoses a patient with severe sepsis, ProtocolWatch launches the sepsis resuscitation bundle, which provides a reminder list of treatments and goals recommended by the SSC guidelines, a timer that starts when the bundle begins, and horizon trend displays of key measurements. When clinicians have confirmed all recommendations of the SSC guidelines, the sepsis management bundle presents a checklist of the guidelines' stabilization recommendations. The application also keeps a log of the SSC sepsis protocol, including all clinician interactions, alarms, and protocol phase transitions designed to aid clinicians and administrators in analyzing and improving care for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. ProtocolWatch, a product of Philips (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), integrates with the Philips IntelliVue patient monitoring platform
Sepsis is a common deadly condition that is estimated to kill 1,400 people worldwide every day. Severe sepsis, the leading cause of death in the non-coronary intensive care unit (ICU), has a mortality rate of 30-50%; the mortality rate for septic shock is 50-60%. Sepsis is also a financial burden, costing US$16.7 billion in the United States alone in 2000 with an average cost per case of about $22,000.


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