Anita;
Yes, it produces over-sensitivity to SIRS, which as you likely know, can occur 
from the surgical procedure, anesthesia, or other reasons
Also; if the patient has a surgical procedure specifically for the purpose of 
source control, which could occasionally happen for the ortho patient - the 
patient may still be septic or severely septic, but no additional sepsis bundle 
elements are required if the bundle was implemented at the time of recognition 
of the infection. If the patient is simply having an ortho procedure, the case 
would likely be cancelled if an infection was present - so sepsis bundle would 
not come into play.

So in general - if the patient's condition worsens after a surgical procedure, 
as always, contact the surgeon for whatever is required - fluid, antibiotic, 
blood, etc. But a sepsis screen will likely be falsely positive during the 
first 12-24 hours post operatively.

Most sites who recognize this phenomenon resume sepsis screening on the day 
following the sx procedure and/or 24 hours after sx.
Hope this helps


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]

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, 
build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."             ~R. 
Buckminster Fuller

From: Sepsisgroups [mailto:[email protected]] On 
Behalf Of Anita D. Schrad
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2015 7:31 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Sepsis Groups] sepsis screening

Hello Everyone,

We are in the process of implementing the sepsis screening tool and bundles at 
our facility. We are a small rural hospital, with a 28 bed Med-Surg unit, 13 
bed Orthopedic unit and a 6 bed ICU. Some of the physicians have questioned 
whether we should complete the screening tool on fresh post op Orthopedic 
patients, as they are likely to have at least one of the SIRS criteria. This 
may equal a lot of unnecessary lactate levels and cultures being drawn on these 
patients. Most of which are here for elective surgery.  Could some of you share 
what your facility is doing?

Anita Schrad
Director of Critical Care & Orthopedics
[cid:[email protected]]

St. Anthony Regional Hospital
311 South Clark Street, Carroll, IA 51401
Office Phone (712)794-5569
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>



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