Treat signs of sepsis with same urgency as chest pain, says NICE

Doctors should treat patients with suspected sepsis with the same urgency as those who present with chest pains, says new UK guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.1

Health professionals need to think about the possibility of sepsis in far more patients—all patients who may be infected, said NICE in its evidence based guideline for identifying and treatment sepsis.

Saul Faust from the University of Southampton and chair of the group that developed the guideline said, “Sepsis can be difficult to diagnose with certainty. We want clinicians to start asking, ‘Could this be sepsis?’ much earlier on so that they can rule it out or get people the treatment they need.”

He added, “Just like most people with chest pain are not having a heart attack, the majority of people with an infection will not have sepsis. …