Reduction of in-hospital cardiac arrest rates in intensive care-equipped New South Wales hospitals in association with implementation of Between the Flags rapid response system.

BACKGROUND: The NSW Clinical Excellence commission introduced the 'Between the Flags' programme, in response to the death of a young patient, as a system-wide approach for early detection and management of the deteriorating patient in all NSW hospitals. The impact of BTF implementation on the 35 larger hospitals with intensive care units (ICU) has not been reported previously. AIM: To assess the impact of 'Between the Flags' (BTF), a two-tier rapid response system across 35 hospitals with an ICU in NSW, on the incidence of in-hospital cardiac arrests and the incidence and outcome of patients admitted to an ICU following cardiac arrest and rapid response team activation. METHODS: This is a prospective observational study of the BTF registry (August 2010 to June 2016) and the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society Adult Patient Database (January 2008 to December 2016) in 35 New South Wales public hospitals with an ICU. The primary outcome studied was the proportion of in-hospital cardiac arrests. Secondary outcomes included changes in the severity of illness and outcomes of cardiac arrest admissions to the ICU and changes in the volume of rapid response calls. RESULTS: The cardiac arrest rate per 1000 hospital admissions declined from 0.91 in the implementation period to 0.70. Propensity score analysis showed significant declines in ICU and hospital mortality and length of stay for cardiac arrest patients admitted to the ICU (all P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The BTF programme was associated with a significant reduction in cardiac arrests in hospitals and ICU admissions secondary to cardiac arrests in 35 NSW hospitals with an ICU.

Comparison of the quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment and adult sepsis pathway in predicting adverse outcomes among adult patients in general wards: a retrospective observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) is recommended for use by the most recent international sepsis definition taskforce to identify suspected sepsis in patients outside the intensive care unit (ICU) at risk of adverse outcomes. Evidence of its comparative effectiveness with existing sepsis recognition tools is important to guide decisions about its widespread implementation. AIM: To compare the performance of qSOFA with the adult sepsis pathway (ASP), a current sepsis recognition tool widely used in NSW hospitals and systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria in predicting adverse outcomes in adult patients on general wards. METHODS: A retrospective observational cohort study was conducted which included all adults with suspected infections admitted to a Sydney teaching hospital between December 2014 and June 2016. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality with two secondary composite outcomes. RESULTS: Among 2940 patients with suspected infection, 217 (7.38%) died in-hospital and 702 (23.88%) were subsequently admitted to ICU. The ASP showed the greatest ability to correctly discriminate in-hospital mortality and secondary outcomes. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for mortality was 0.76 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74-0.78), compared to 0.64 for the qSOFA tool (95% CI: 0.61-0.67, P < 0.0001). Median time from the first ASP sepsis warning to death was 8.21 days (interquartile range (IQR): 2.29-16.75) while it was 0 days for qSOFA (IQR: 0-2.58). CONCLUSIONS: The ASP demonstrated both greater prognostic accuracy and earlier warning for in-hospital mortality for adults on hospital wards compared to qSOFA. Hospitals already using ASP may not benefit from switching to the qSOFA tool.

Blood Culture Ordering After Sepsis Alerts and Subsequent Patient Outcomes: An Electronic Health Record-Based Study.

Sepsis is a global health priority associated with high mortality. Clinical decision support systems have been developed to support clinicians with sepsis management. Ordering blood cultures (BCs) for suspected sepsis patients are strongly recommended by clinical guidelines. However, limited evidence exists investigating BC ordering following sepsis alerts and subsequent patient outcomes. This study aimed to investigate this issue using electronic health record data from an acute care hospital in Australia. Of 4,092 patients, only 16.6% had a BC ordered following a sepsis alert. The median time from the first sepsis alert to a BC order was 15.3 hours. Patients had 5.89 times higher odds of being diagnosed with sepsis if a BC was ordered following a sepsis alert than those without BC ordered (p<0.0001). Further investigation is needed to understand reasons behind the delay or failure to order a BC despite receiving electronic sepsis alerts and how decision support can be optimized to improve patient outcomes.

Evaluation of an augmented emergency department electronic medical record-based sepsis alert.

OBJECTIVE: Electronic medical records-based alerts have shown mixed results in identifying ED sepsis. Augmenting clinical patient-flagging with automated alert systems may improve sepsis screening. We evaluate the performance of a hybrid alert to identify patients in ED with sepsis or in-hospital secondary outcomes from infection. METHODS: We extracted a dataset of all patients with sepsis during the study period at five participating Western Sydney EDs. We evaluated the hybrid alert's performance for identifying patients with a discharge diagnosis related to infection and modified sequential sepsis-related organ functional assessment (mSOFA) score ≥2 in ED and also compared the alert to rapid bedside screening tools to identify patients with infection for secondary outcomes of all-cause in-hospital death and/or intensive care unit admission. RESULTS: A total of 118 178 adult patients presented to participating EDs during study period with 1546 patients meeting ED sepsis criteria. The hybrid alert had a sensitivity - 71.2% (95% confidence interval 68.8-73.4), specificity - 96.4% (95% confidence interval 96.3-96.5) for identifying ED sepsis. Clinician flagging identified additional alert-negative 232 ED sepsis and 63 patients with secondary outcomes and 112 alert-positive patients with infection and ED mSOFA score <2 went on to die in hospital. CONCLUSION: The hybrid alert performed modestly in identifying ED sepsis and secondary outcomes from infection. Not all infected patients with a secondary outcome were identified by the alert or mSOFA score ≥2 threshold. Augmenting clinical practice with auto-alerts rather than pure automation should be considered as a potential for sepsis alerting until more reliable algorithms are available for safe use in clinical practice.

Improving the Performance of Clinical Decision Support for Early Detection of Sepsis: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study.

Sepsis remains a significant global health problem. It is a life-threatening, but poorly defined and recognized condition. Early recognition and intervention are essential to optimize patient outcomes. Automated clinical decision support systems (CDS) may be particularly beneficial for early detection of sepsis. The aim of this study was to use retrospective data to develop and evaluate seven revised versions of an electronic sepsis alert rule to assess their performance in detecting sepsis cases and patient deterioration (in-hospital mortality or ICU admission). Four revised options had higher sensitivity but lower specificity than the original rule. After discussion with clinical experts, two revised options with the highest sensitivity were selected. Further analysis on the number of alerts and time intervals between alerts and patient outcomes was conducted to decide the option to be implemented. This study has provided a data-driven approach to improve the CDS on early detection of sepsis.

Comparison of the Between the Flags calling criteria to the MEWS, NEWS and the electronic Cardiac Arrest Risk Triage (eCART) score for the identification of deteriorating ward patients.

INTRODUCTION: Traditionally, paper based observation charts have been used to identify deteriorating patients, with emerging recent electronic medical records allowing electronic algorithms to risk stratify and help direct the response to deterioration. OBJECTIVE(S): We sought to compare the Between the Flags (BTF) calling criteria to the Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS), National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and electronic Cardiac Arrest Risk Triage (eCART) score. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Multicenter retrospective analysis of electronic health record data from all patients admitted to five US hospitals from November 2008-August 2013. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cardiac arrest, ICU transfer or death within 24h of a score RESULTS: Overall accuracy was highest for eCART, with an AUC of 0.801 (95% CI 0.799-0.802), followed by NEWS, MEWS and BTF respectively (0.718 [0.716-0.720]; 0.698 [0.696-0.700]; 0.663 [0.661-0.664]). BTF criteria had a high risk (Red Zone) specificity of 95.0% and a moderate risk (Yellow Zone) specificity of 27.5%, which corresponded to MEWS thresholds of >=4 and >=2, NEWS thresholds of >=5 and >=2, and eCART thresholds of >=12 and >=4, respectively. At those thresholds, eCART caught 22 more adverse events per 10,000 patients than BTF using the moderate risk criteria and 13 more using high risk criteria, while MEWS and NEWS identified the same or fewer. CONCLUSION(S): An electronically generated eCART score was more accurate than commonly used paper based observation tools for predicting the composite outcome of in-hospital cardiac arrest, ICU transfer and death within 24h of observation. The outcomes of this analysis lend weight for a move towards an algorithm based electronic risk identification tool for deteriorating patients to ensure earlier detection and prevent adverse events in the hospital.

Serum lactate cut-offs as a risk stratification tool for in-hospital adverse outcomes in emergency department patients screened for suspected sepsis.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated specific lactate thresholds for adverse outcomes in patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with suspected sepsis identified based on the performance of a sepsis screening algorithm. DESIGN AND SETTING: A standardised sepsis bundle was implemented across public hospitals in New South Wales, Australia, as a quality improvement initiative. A register of all adult ED presentations (≥18 years) meeting predefined criteria for sepsis was created, using a combination of data linkage and direct reporting from 97 participating sites. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 12 349 adult ED presentations with 8310 (67.3%) having serum lactate analysis on arrival. Analysis of outcomes was based on dataset for 12 349 subjects obtained through multiple imputation for missing data. INTERVENTIONS: A sepsis management bundle including early antibiotic prescribing, fluid therapy and referral to intensive care unit (ICU) services was implemented. OUTCOME MEASURES: A primary composite adverse event (AE) outcome of inhospital mortality (IHM) and/or prolonged ICU stay ≥72 hours (ICU 72 hours) was used for this study. RESULTS: There was statistically significant increase both in the ORs of AE and IHM with each integer increase in serum lactate values. After adjusting for the presence of hypotension, the estimated ORs for the combined AE outcome were 2.71 (95% CI 2.05 to 3.57), 2.65 (95% CI 2.29 to 3.08), 3.10 (95% CI 2.71 to 3.53) and 3.89 (95% CI 3.36 to 4.50) for serum lactate levels at or above 1, 2, 3 and 4 mmol/L, respectively. The corresponding ORs for IHM were 2.93 (95% CI 2.08 to 4.13), 2.77 (95% CI 2.34 to 3.29), 3.26 (95% CI 2.80 to 3.80) and 4.01 (95% CI 3.40 to 4.73), respectively (all P<0.0001). More than 10% of patients with suspected sepsis and with serum lactate ≥2 mmol/L experienced a prolonged ICU stay or died in hospital. CONCLUSIONS: ED sepsis screening algorithms intended to identify patient adverse outcomes should incorporate a serum lactate cut-off of ≥2 mmol/L as a threshold for the initiation of specific interventions and increased monitoring.

New sepsis definition changes incidence of sepsis in the intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the impact of adopting the proposed new diagnostic criteria for sepsis, based on Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) criteria, on the diagnosis and apparent mortality of sepsis in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A two-stage, post hoc analysis of prospectively collected ICU research data from 3780 adult patients in 77 Australian and New Zealand ICUs on 7 study days, between 2009 and 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The proportion of patients who were diagnosed with sepsis using the criteria for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and who met the SOFA criteria for sepsis, and the proportion of patients who were admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis consistent with infection, who met either, both or neither sets of criteria for sepsis; comparison of the demographic differences and in-hospital mortality between these groups. RESULTS: Of 926 patients diagnosed with sepsis on a study day using SIRS criteria, 796/923 (86.2% [95% CI, 84.0%-88.5%]) satisfied the SOFA criteria. Inhospital mortality was similar in these groups, with death recorded for 216/872 patients (24.8% [95% CI, 21.9%-27.8%]) who met the SIRS criteria for sepsis, and for 200/747 patients (26.8% [95% CI, 23.6%-30.1%]) who met both the SIRS and SOFA criteria for sepsis. Of 122 patients meeting the SIRS criteria but not the SOFA criteria, 16 (13.1% [95% CI, 7.7%-19.1%]) died. Of 241 patients admitted with an infective condition and complete data, 142 (58.9% [95% CI, 52.4%-65.2%]) satisfied the SIRS criteria for sepsis and 210 (87.1% [95% CI, 82.2%-91.1%]) satisfied the SOFA criteria. Of the 241 patients, 99 (41.1%) were not classified as having sepsis on the study day by SIRS criteria and, of these, 80 (80.8%) met the SOFA criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Adopting the SOFA criteria will increase the apparent incidence of sepsis in patients admitted to the ICU with infective conditions without affecting the mortality rate. Prospective evaluation of the effect of adopting the new definition of sepsis is required.

Lactate ≥2 mmol/L plus qSOFA improves utility over qSOFA alone in emergency department patients presenting with suspected sepsis.

OBJECTIVE: The Sepsis-3 task force recommends the use of the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score to identify risk for adverse outcomes in patients presenting with suspected infection. Lactate has been shown to predict adverse outcomes in patients with suspected infection. The aim of the study is to investigate the utility of a post hoc lactate threshold (≥2 mmol/L) added qSOFA score (LqSOFA(2) score) to predict primary composite adverse outcomes (mortality and/or ICU stay ≥72 h) in patients presenting to ED with suspected sepsis. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study was conducted on a merged dataset of suspected or proven sepsis patients presenting to ED across multiple sites in Australia and The Netherlands. Patients are identified as candidates for quality improvement initiatives or research studies at respective sites based on local screening procedures. Data-sharing was performed across sites of demographics, qSOFA, SOFA, lactate thresholds and outcome data for included patients. LqSOFA(2) scores were calculated by adding an extra point to qSOFA score in patients who met lactate thresholds of ≥2 mmol/L. RESULTS: In a merged dataset of 12 555 patients where a full qSOFA score and outcome data were available, LqSOFA(2) ≥2 identified more patients with an adverse outcome (sensitivity 65.5%, 95% confidence interval 62.6-68.4) than qSOFA ≥2 (sensitivity 47.6%, 95% confidence interval 44.6- 50.6). The post hoc addition of lactate threshold identified higher proportion of patients at risk of adverse outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The lactate ≥2 mmol/L threshold-based LqSOFA(2) score performs better than qSOFA alone in identifying risk of adverse outcomes in ED patients with suspected sepsis.