When you are a patient in a hospital, all members of the staff contribute to your care. At the same time, each member of the staff gets stands at risk of exposure to a harmful microorganism. Following that exposure, the exposed man or woman might enter your room. That is why such patients need to learn about sepsis.
Basic facts about sepsis
It is the name given to an extreme inflammatory response to a harmful microorganism. In the past, it has been most apt to develop in patients that suffer with one of these conditions: pneumonia, an abdominal infection, a kidney or urinary tract infection or an infection in the blood stream. Today though, due to the fact that so many patients receive some type of surgical implant, the list of possible causes has expanded.
Symptoms associated with a patient that has sepsis
In the early stages that patient may have low blood pressure and periodic episodes when he or she suffers with a mild fever and some chills. The frequency of those episodes will increase over time, if the sepsis remains unnoticed and untreated.
If the same patient were to be given antibiotics for an observable infection, then those antibiotics would not be as effective as the doctor had hoped. Unknown to the doctor, the antibiotics would be fighting two different infections. That is a symptom that could well get overlooked. In the later stages a list of sepsis’ symptoms can include things like rapid breathing, cognitive impairment, and gangrene and organ failure. If the infectious organism has been growing in the region of an implanted device, then the operation of that same device may be affected.
Possible causes for the extreme inflammatory response (sepsis)
• Hospital-acquired infections
• The presence within a heating or cooling system of a poor filtration set-up
• Failure of a hospital to enforce good sanitation practices. In the case of visitors in patient rooms, the right aids and equipment ought to be made available to each new visitor.
• In the operating rooms and in labs that perform specific tests, the equipment has not been properly sterilized.
• Defects in purchased products have gone unrecognized.
• Surgical wounds do not heal properly. This cause can be aggravated by the absence of proper equipment for any patient’s visitors. The visitors can introduce new infectious organisms.
• Bed sores do not heal properly.
When reviewing the list of causes that has been presented above, do not assume that each of the listed factors could only exist in a hospital. Today, a growing number of procedures get carried out within the patient’s home. Even treatment of infections by administering an antibiotic, using an IV set-up, can be done within a home. In that case, the medical professional should make sure that the care-giver understands the importance of implementing the various safety precautions. In addition, the responsible physician should make a point of coming to the patient’s bedside on a regular basis. If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence or malpractice, it is important to consult with injury lawyer in St. Albert & Spruce Grove.