A team of researchers is highlighting what calls significant gaps in sepsis policies and training standards throughout Canada, which according to them show the need for a national action plan to address sepsis.
Sepsis is the extreme response of the body to an infection and is a main cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In Ontario, sepsis deaths have recently reached the headlines, which caused discussions about hospital protocols.
In 2017, a resolution of the World Health Assembly (WH), the WHO decision -making body – He asked Member States to create standards and guidelines for prevention, early diagnosis and sepsis management.
Years later, some countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia have developed national action plans. But researchers, including Dr. Kali Barrett, say that Canada still has a way to go to fulfill that call to action. Barrett is a critical care doctor with headquarters in Toronto and an affiliated scientist at the Collaboration Center for Policies and Services of Policies in the University Health Network.
“We are trying to obtain the support and recognition of governments that this is a public health emergency,” said Barrett.
Barrett, along with several other researchers, has completed a literature review, observing what policies exist throughout the country. They found that most provinces, including Ontario, do not have specific sepsis policies and guidelines, and that training and hospital accreditation standards are also missing. The investigation is in pairs and is presented at the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia.
When CBC Toronto asked him last month why there is no uniform standard to evaluate and treat sepsis, and if the province was considering creating a sepsis protocol, the Ministry of Health did not answer those questions. In a statement, he said that “expects each hospital to maintain the highest level of patient care.”
CBC News contacted the Canada Public Health Agency to request comments on Canada’s efforts to comply with the call to action. In an email, a spokesman told the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Finishing the Sepsis Canada Research Network. They also said that the Canada Public Health Agency has developed policies related to “infectious diseases”, which contribute to the reduction of sepsis.
‘Alarming’ gaps in training standards
Barrett says that a national action plan should imply the coordination of efforts at different levels of government to better recognize and treat sepsis, as well as improve public education.
While medical care is under provincial jurisdiction, he says that there are things that can be done at the federal level to support a coordinated approach for the prevention, recognition and treatment of sepsis.
This includes the implementation of new accreditation standards for hospitals, as well as training standards. The revision found that many health professionals, from some medical specialties to midwives and paramedics, do not list the recognition and treatment of sepsis as a specific learning objective.
Barrett calls for the lack of “alarming” training standards, since any medical professional could meet a patient with sepsis, and rapid treatment is essential to improve the possibilities of survival.
Fatima Sheikh, a doctoral candidate at McMaster University and co -author of the research, says that a coordinated action plan should include both an approach to health training and public awareness.
“I often do the parallel with conditions such as stroke. Most people in the community, even if they can’t list all signs and symptoms, if you see one of those signs and symptoms, you can identify: ‘Ok, something is going wrong. I need to call 911,” Sheikh said.
“We need to improve public awareness so that they know that sepsis is a potentially deadly condition.”
Sheikh, whose research focuses on health equity, points out that most sepsis cases begin with an acquired infection outside the hospital. She says that research has also shown an association between factors such as the socioeconomic state, race and gender and a higher risk of sepsis, which makes a coordinated strategy even more important.
Need for proactive policies
Last month, CBC Toronto informed about a case of a woman who died of septic shock days after childbirth. His family believes that death could have been prevented if medical staff had recognized sepsis signs more quickly.
Barrett and Sheikh say that tragedies are often a catalyst for changes in policies and expect no deaths for a national strategy on sepsis that is implemented.
“We need to establish these policies proactively without having to wait for another tragedy and another person to die and relatives who begin to advocate in their name,” Barrett said.
