It’s NOT Always Sepsis: A common-sense approach for ALS and BLS providers

 

Sepsis is an emergent medical condition that kills more people annually than prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined. For every two heart attack patients cared for by EMS, five patients are hospitalized by sepsis. EMS transports 60% of patients with severe sepsis arriving at the ED and yet EMS providers are often unaware of its presence or what they should do if the find it. This presentation discusses new sepsis criteria along with expert commentary as to how they can be applied in the field. This program includes real-world, practical methods for EMS identification, assessment and field treatment of life-threatening sepsis and looks at the current state of sepsis critical care as well as what we can anticipate in the coming months and years.

 

Teaching Formats:

-Lecture

-Case Studies

-Question and Answer

 

Learning Objectives: Students will be able to:

-Define sepsis.

-Differentiate sepsis versus septic shock.

-Describe the role of prehospital providers in the identification, assessment and treatment of patients with sepsis and septic shock.

-Apply the CHART steps of EMS care for patients with sepsis and septic shock.

-Explain how prehospital providers can identify the presence of infection related triggers for sepsis.

-Explain the role of vital signs such as blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, lactate, end-tidal CO2 and temperature in the identification and assessment of patients with sepsis and septic shock.

-Appraise prehospital sepsis identification / alert guidelines.

-Prioritize treatment tools and techniques for patients experiencing sepsis and septic shock.

-Justify the escalation or termination of fluid resuscitation / pressor administration for patients experiencing septic shock.

-Employ recommendations to facilitate effective patient hand-over between EMS and ED staff.

For more information on this program click here to contact us.