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Tuesday, April 5, 2016 5:25 PM

What killed Patty Duke?

Written by Karen Pursch, Director, Patient Privacy Solutions

Reduce Sepsis

I am sure we were all sad to see actress Patty Duke die as a result of sepsis from a ruptured intestine. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sepsis is the body's "overwhelming and life-threatening response" to an infection. It can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Sepsis can be spurred by any type of infection, even a minor one, and occurs when germs enter a person's body and multiply, causing illness and organ and tissue damage.

Last month, I wrote a blog about the use of Algorithms and Analytics for sepsis management. It seems timely that we all think about using technology to proactively notify caregivers when a patient shows the signs of sepsis.

In the article "What killed Patty Duke?", by Ben Tinker, CNN, it states that there is no single sign for sepsis, but rather a combination of symptoms. This is why using algorithms to pull in multiple symptoms to detect the progression of sepsis is very important.

In addition to using algorithms, we can also analyze the doctors, population, and facilities to be more prepared. We can segment the population to make sure we are flagging high-risk patients — people with weakened immune systems, babies and the very young, elderly people, and those with chronic illnesses. We can also look to see if specific facilities or specific doctor’s patients are receiving more sepsis patients than others.

Please attend our upcoming webcast on April 7th, where Derrick Goode from Penn Highlands Elk shows how they are reducing Sepsis and Readmissions.