The impact of an electronic medical record surveillance program on outcomes for patients with sepsis

ObjectivesTo evaluate the effects of this EMR surveillance on sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock outcomes in patients admitted to a medical telemetry unit, including length of hospital stay, patient discharge and mortality.MethodsA retrospective review of pre- and post-implementation of a pilot electronic medical record (EMR) sepsis surveillance.ResultsImplementing EMR sepsis surveillance significantly improved home discharge (49.0% versus 25.3%, p < .05) and reduced hospital mortality (1.0% versus 9.3%, p < .05). Although there was no difference in the length of hospital stay for the whole group, patients in the surveillance group who triggered an alert on the EMR surveillance had a decreased length of hospital stay compared to those without an alert (7.2 ± 4.2 versus 11.6 ± 9.4 days, p < .05).ConclusionThese results offer promising evidence that the use of an EMR sepsis surveillance alert could decrease the ravishing effects of sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock by early identification and treatment.