Open AccessThe feasibility of paramedics delivering antibiotic treatment pre-hospital to ‘red flag’ sepsis patients: a service evaluation
Author(s) -
Jonathan Chippendale,
Adele Lloyd,
Tanya Payne,
Sally Dunmore,
Bethan Stoddart
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british paramedic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1478-4726
DOI - 10.29045/14784726.2018.03.2.4.19
Subject(s) - medicine , sepsis , meropenem , septic shock , flag (linear algebra) , surviving sepsis campaign , emergency medicine , antibiotics , blood culture , intensive care medicine , severe sepsis , antibiotic resistance , mathematics , pure mathematics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , algebra over a field
Sepsis is associated with a 36% mortality rate, rising to 50% for septic shock. Currently, when an East Midlands Ambulance Service clinician recognises 'red flag' sepsis, only the oxygen and fluid elements of the 'Sepsis Six' care bundle are delivered, omitting the antibiotic therapy. For a patient in septic shock, every hour's delay in antibiotic therapy is associated with a 7.6% increase in mortality. Ambulance clinicians are therefore appropriately placed to assess and commence treatment at the earliest point of recognition. The aim of this evaluation was to assess the feasibility of training paramedics to recognise 'red flag' sepsis, obtain blood cultures and administer a broad spectrum antibiotic, meropenem, to patients in the pre-hospital environment.