The number of patients who die from a severe blood infection known as sepsis has declined significantly at CAMC General Hospital over the past two years because the condition is being identified and treated sooner, according to a new report.

In 2005, CAMC established a team of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists to target patients with sepsis - the leading cause of death at CAMC and hospitals across the nation.

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Critical-care nurse Michelle Neal-Jarrell (left), clinical pharmacy specialist Audis Bethea and Dr. Robert Crisalli serve on a team that has helped reduce the number of CAMC General Hospital patients who die because of a blood infection called sepsis.

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"Each year, 20 more people are living normal lives because we changed our processes," said Ed Welch, a CAMC trustee who heads the hospital's quality committee. "The old processes weren't keeping people alive."

Sepsis, septicemia (blood poisoning) and septic shock killed 813 patients at CAMC last year - about 15 percent of all deaths. The severe blood infection often is difficult to treat.

Typical symptoms include high fever, elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, low blood pressure and an abnormal white blood cell count. The infection spreads quickly, leading to kidney, liver, lung and heart failure. Young children and the elderly are most at risk.

About 60 percent of patients who go into septic shock die.

CAMC decided to tackle the problem at General Hospital's emergency room first.

Nurses were trained - and given a special screening tool - to identify the blood infection sooner. Pharmacists were brought in for consultations to ensure patients were receiving appropriate antibiotics.

Also, a standardized set of orders was drawn up that doctors use to treat patients with sepsis. The template reduces errors.

"Early recognition is of the utmost importance," said Dr. Robert Crisalli, a critical care specialist who serves on the sepsis team. "It involves the emergency room. The triage process. We have to get everyone thinking about sepsis all the time."

The number of patients who die from a severe blood infection known as sepsis has declined significantly at CAMC General Hospital over the past two years because the condition is being identified and treated sooner, according to a new report.

In 2005, CAMC established a team of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists to target patients with sepsis - the leading cause of death at CAMC and hospitals across the nation.

The percentage of people with severe sepsis who died at the hospital declined from nearly 40 percent in 2005 to about 24 percent last year, according to the report. The team tracked patients admitted through General Hospital's emergency department to the intensive-care unit.

"Each year, 20 more people are living normal lives because we changed our processes," said Ed Welch, a CAMC trustee who heads the hospital's quality committee. "The old processes weren't keeping people alive."

Sepsis, septicemia (blood poisoning) and septic shock killed 813 patients at CAMC last year - about 15 percent of all deaths. The severe blood infection often is difficult to treat.

Typical symptoms include high fever, elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, low blood pressure and an abnormal white blood cell count. The infection spreads quickly, leading to kidney, liver, lung and heart failure. Young children and the elderly are most at risk.

About 60 percent of patients who go into septic shock die.

CAMC decided to tackle the problem at General Hospital's emergency room first.

Nurses were trained - and given a special screening tool - to identify the blood infection sooner. Pharmacists were brought in for consultations to ensure patients were receiving appropriate antibiotics.

Also, a standardized set of orders was drawn up that doctors use to treat patients with sepsis. The template reduces errors.

"Early recognition is of the utmost importance," said Dr. Robert Crisalli, a critical care specialist who serves on the sepsis team. "It involves the emergency room. The triage process. We have to get everyone thinking about sepsis all the time."

Patients are receiving antibiotics and being transferred to the intensive-care unit more quickly, Crisalli said. Nurses are calling doctors whenever they spot even small changes in patients' vital signs - a signal that sepsis could be the culprit.

Since last October, more than 70 CAMC staff members have received training in how to identify and treat sepsis and CAMC's simulation lab.

At General Hospital, the reported number of patients with sepsis increased from 172 in 2005 to 245 last year. The number of patients with severe sepsis also shot up.

"The patients aren't sicker," Crisalli said. "Our recognition and diagnosis is going up. We're recognizing sepsis more and more now."

Earlier this year, the sepsis team presented a paper about their work at a meeting of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

The study found that CAMC patients with severe sepsis and septic shock were more likely to live if hospital pharmacists consulted on their care. The program reduced the amount of time patients stayed in the hospital and saved CAMC about $1.2 million over the past two years.

CAMC recently started a sepsis identification and treatment team at Memorial Hospital in Kanawha City.

New machines with computer programs to identify sepsis also are being ordered. The hospital hopes to expand the program from the emergency and critical-care units to patients' rooms on all floors.

"We have to do this," Crisalli said. "Too many lives are at stake."

To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.