First let me be clear that I am not rendering a decision here; just weighing in 
with my 2 cents.
It is true that a large percentage of our hospitalized patients have SIRS 
criteria, and often a new or exacerbated organ failure
And a part of the assessment process by the registered nurse, any new 
occurrences of SIRS and/or organ failure deserves immediate follow up.
For the purposes of sepsis screening however, sepsis cannot be present without 
an infection. So many other reasons exist that cause SIRS for example, as you 
likely know.
So what I am focusing on is not general assessment but the actual sepsis screen 
which starts with documented or suspected infection - and leads the RN down the 
path toward discovering where on the continuum the patient may fall based their 
body's response to that infection - as opposed to trying to explain the SIRS 
and/or organ failure by looking for an infection
I know of places that have moved SIRS first - anecdotally it seems to cause and 
high sensitivity to SIRS and a higher false positive rate for screens

Thanks,

MARY ANN BARNES-DALY RN BSN CCRN DC  | Clinical Performance Improvement 
Consultant
Sutter Health - Clinical Integration Department | 2200 River Plaza Drive, 
Sacramento, CA 95833
Mobile 916.200.5604| Office 916.286.6717  | 
[email protected]<BLOCKED::mailto:[email protected]>

From: Sepsisgroups [mailto:[email protected]] On 
Behalf Of Carlson, Barbara A. (Lincoln, NE)
Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2014 5:32 AM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Exstrom, Nancy
Subject: [Sepsis Groups] FW: sepsis tool question

Please see question below.

Barbara Carlson RN, BAN, CPHQ
Performance Improvement
St Elizabeth Regional Medical Center
P 402-219-7332
F 402-219-8992

From: Exstrom, Nancy
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2014 12:41 AM
To: Carlson, Barbara A. (Lincoln, NE)
Subject: sepsis tool question

I would like to ask the surviving sepsis campaign if it would be OK to have the 
SIrS criteria first, Organ criteria 2nd, and Infection criteria 3rd in figuring 
the sepsis tool as the novice nurse sometimes doesn't think big picture of 
suspecting an infection despite sirs and organ function being positive and 
therefore if infection is 1st criteria to answer, they would answer no and it 
is an automatic negative screen but if in reverse order, they make think... the 
patient may have infection?

Nancy Exstrom RN, MSN, CCRN, CSC
Clinical Educator Critical Care Services
555 South 70th
Lincoln, Ne 68510
402-440-5964 (Cell)
402-219-8021 (work)

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