Sepsis Survivors Need Better Rehabilitation Care After Hospital Discharge

Sepsis Survivors Need Better Rehabilitation Care After Hospital Discharge:

A pair of medical scientists has released new recommendations for post-hospital care for patients who survive from sepsis, which is a common cause of hospital readmission.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that can occur when the body has an extreme response to infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the 4 types of infections often related to sepsis are of the lung (pneumonia), kidney (urinary tract infection), skin, and gut. While anyone can get sepsis, infants, children, the elderly, and individuals with medical issues such as cancer and diabetes are at highest risk. Without rapid treatment, sepsis can progress rapidly and lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Sepsis is causing an increasing toll on mortality rates and health care costs in hospitals in the United States, where there are more than 1.5 million cases of these infections each year. In fact, a 2014 study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found that sepsis contributes to 1 in every 2 to 3 hospital deaths, making it the leading cause of death in US hospitals.