If you haven't heard of the medical term "sepsis" it's the body's extreme reaction to an infection and it can cause organ damage or even result in death. In fact, CDC data shows that 350,000 people in our country die in the hospital from sepsis or are moved into hospice care because of it. But this week, the CDC announced a new program that would guide hospitals in how they handle sepsis.
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00:00 If you haven't heard of the medical term sepsis, it is the body's extreme reaction to an infection
00:06 and it can cause organ damage or even result in death.
00:10 In fact, CDC data shows each year 350,000 people in our country die in the hospital
00:16 from sepsis or are moved into hospice care because of it.
00:19 But this week, the CDC announced a new program that would guide hospitals and how they handle
00:24 sepsis.
00:25 Here's one of the doctors who helped write these guidelines.
00:28 I think one of the challenges is that sepsis can look very different across different people
00:34 and can also kind of overlap with other types of conditions.
00:39 So how would this initiative work?
00:40 The CDC says it would establish best practices when it comes to assigning medical staff to
00:46 cases and allocating funding resources.
00:49 And it would also train staff members to look for sepsis symptoms.
00:53 Here's an example of why that's so important.
00:56 15-year-old Alice Tapper had appendicitis and developed sepsis, but didn't get that
01:01 diagnosis until later, which delayed her care.
01:04 My course of care would not have resulted in weeks in a hospital and a long recovery
01:08 at home.
01:09 The education of sepsis is so important for patients and their parents because many people
01:14 don't know what sepsis is.
01:15 I'll tell my friends about sepsis and they're like, I had never heard of that before.
01:19 Some hospitals may already have guidelines or leadership committees already assigned
01:23 to this, but smaller, more rural hospitals may be starting from scratch.
01:28 So medical professionals say having these guidelines in place is going to prepare hospitals
01:33 for any changes in sepsis policies or treatment that come in the next decade.