INTRODUCTION: The National Health Service (NHS) 'move to digital' incorporating electronic patient record systems (EPR) facilitates the translation of paper-based screening tools into digital systems, including digital sepsis alerts. We evaluated the impact of sepsis screening tools on in-patient 30-day mortality across four multi-hospital NHS Trusts, each using a different algorithm for early detection of sepsis. METHODS: Using quasi-experimental methods, we investigated the impact of the screening tools. Individual-level EPR data for 718 000 patients between 2010 and 2020 were extracted to assess the impact on a target cohort and control cohort using interrupted time series analysis, based on a binomial regression model. We included one Trust which uses a paper-based screening tool to compare the impact of digital and paper-based interventions, and one Trust which did not introduce a sepsis screening tool, but did introduce an EPR. RESULTS: All Trusts had lower odds of mortality, between 5% and 12%, after the introduction of the sepsis screening tool, before adjustment for pre-existing trends or patient casemix. After adjustment for existing trends, there was a significant reduction in mortality in two of the three Trusts which introduced sepsis screening tools. We also observed age-specific effects across Trusts. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm that patients with similar profiles have a lower mortality risk, consistent with our previous work. This study, conducted across multiple NHS Trusts, suggests that alerts could be tailored to specific patient groups based on age-related effects. Different Trusts may require unique indicators, thresholds, actions and treatments. Including additional EPR information could further enhance personalised care.
Journal article
BMJ Health Care Inform
27/04/2025
32
Decision Support Systems, Clinical, Electronic Health Records, Emergency Service, Hospital, Humans, Sepsis, Electronic Health Records, Male, Female, Aged, State Medicine, Middle Aged, United Kingdom, Mass Screening, Aged, 80 and over