Clinical Pearls

There are more than 1½ million hospital admissions each year attributed to sepsis, with nearly one-third of those patients dying. Although many seek outpatient care before their hospitalization, little is known about the circumstances surrounding these clinic visits.

Miller and colleagues conducted retrospective chart reviews and found 10% of adult patients admitted with sepsis sought clinic care on the day of or the day before their hospital admission, and of those:

With the aim to improve sepsis care, the authors recommend development of algorithms to assist outpatient providers in identifying high-risk patients who would benefit from accelerated transfer to the emergency department.

See Article, pp 135–139

Telemedicine is the electronic sharing of medical information between sites. This technology now includes real-time management of critical events involving patients in intensive care units (ICUs) by off-site clinicians. Although telemedicine research shows positive patient outcomes, findings on staff acceptance of this technology have...