Every year, pediatric sepsis leads to hospitalizations, long-term health problems, and deaths. Sepsis contributes to over 19% of all global deaths, with nearly half being children. For those who survive, more than a third experience long-term health issues.
Pediatric sepsis research and guidelines are evolving, and preventing child deaths requires continual refining of evidence-based interventions. Challenging sepsis saves children's lives.
Improving sepsis outcomes, together
From 2016-2023, the Improving Pediatric Sepsis Outcomes (IPSO) nationwide collaborative brought together 66 children’s hospitals focused on improving outcomes for children with sepsis. Utilizing multimodal quality improvement (QI) science, evidence-based bundles of care, and data-driven performance evaluation, the IPSO collaborative successfully decreased mortality rates and time spent in the hospital among children with sepsis.
With a data set containing over 100,000 pediatric sepsis episodes, the IPSO collaborative’s published findings have contributed to the growing body of evidence supporting effective sepsis care.
Evidence from the IPSO Collaborative demonstrated that adherence to a bundle of care including early sepsis recognition, timely fluid bolus, and timely antibiotic administration improves outcomes. The bundle includes:
IPSO's impact: By the numbers
Through bundle compliance, patients with sepsis are identified earlier and receive more timely treatment, resulting in:
- 47-80% decrease in 30-day sepsis-related mortality.
- 10-16% decrease in hospital days per sepsis episode.
- 5-14% decrease in antibiotic days.
- 7% decrease in ICU days.
What's next
Pediatric Sepsis Community of Practice
To continue improvements and spread the findings from IPSO, the Pediatric Sepsis Community of Practice is an opportunity for professionals to come together around best practices in pediatric sepsis care. The Community of Practice offers sepsis resources, an anytime discussion board, and regular virtual meetings for participants. All CHA members are welcome to join.
Sepsis Data Tracking Reports
Sepsis Data Tracking Reports within the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) and Inpatient Essentials (IE) programs offer the opportunity for member hospitals to collect data, measure outcomes, and produce meaningful reporting for sepsis care. While these reports are currently only available to IPSO graduates, all PHIS/IE participants will have the opportunity to add these reports soon.
Change Package
The IPSO Change Package summarizes key learnings and provides recommendations and resources for health systems caring for children working to improve sepsis care and outcomes. The Change Package is coming soon and will be available to all — stay tuned!
