Sepsis: digital monitoring improves outcomes by alerting clinicians to deteriorating patients, study finds

A digital monitoring system for sepsis that alerts clinicians to signs of deterioration helped to reduce deaths and hospital stays, a study has found.1

The system is based on the St John’s Sepsis Agent algorithm, which highlights when a patient may have an infection or signs of organ deterioration. Alerts are generated when any of a range of signs, such as temperature, heart rate, or glucose level, strays outside the normal range.

Nurses are notified of alerts through a pop-up warning on a patient’s electronic health record or on a dashboard that highlights any patient with an active …