Paramedic Recognition of Sepsis in the Prehospital Setting: A Prospective Observational Study
Table 2
Patient characteristics.
Frequency
Patient history1
Diabetes mellitus
117 (21.1)
Oral steroids or chemotherapy in last 6 weeks
38 (6.8)
Chronic renal failure
23 (4.1)
Organ/tissue transplant
5 (0.9)
Human immunodeficiency virus
1 (0.2)
None of the above
394 (71.0)
Vital signs, mean [SD]
Respiratory rate
21.6 [8.3]
Heart rate
90.9 [22.6]
Systolic blood pressure2
132.3 [29.5]
Diastolic blood pressure3
72.8 [14.8]
Blood sugar4
8.1 [3.3]
Fever at present5
Yes
163 (27.9)
Recent finding of any infection6
Yes
155 (25.2)
Signs and symptoms of infection7
Pulmonary, cough/hypoxia
170 (27.5)
Abdominal tenderness
81 (13.1)
Soft tissue swelling/redness/pain
62 (10.0)
Altered sensorium
56 (9.0)
Urinary, foul/puss
52 (8.4)
Meningitis, stiff neck
5 (0.8)
None of the above
259 (41.8)
Organ dysfunction criteria8
Diaphoresis
47 (7.8)
Cool peripheral limbs
38 (6.3)
Systolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg
36 (6.0)
Knee mottling
1 (0.2)
Periumbilical mottling
0 (0)
None of the above
498 (82.7)
SD: standard deviation Brackets denote standard deviation. Parentheses denote percentage. 1Paramedics could make more than one selection for patient history, responses. responses. Diastolic blood pressure unavailable when palpation was required, responses. Blood sugar was often unavailable and only collected in nondiabetic patients, responses. Paramedic determination of whether patient had a fever at present, responses. Paramedic finding of any infection within prior 10 days, responses. Any sign or symptom of infection (both present and new). Paramedics could make more than one selection, responses. Any criteria of organ dysfunction present and remote from site of infection that were not chronic conditions. Paramedics could make more than one selection, responses.