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Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to an infection causes it to attack its own tissues and organs. Sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death especially if not recognised early and treated quickly. Use this guide to find information resources about recognising and caring for adults with presumed sepsis including books, reports and journal articles.

Last updated: 21/12/2022

Key Resources

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2022) Statement on the initial antimicrobial treatment of sepsis. London: AoMRC.
The UK Sepsis Trust: Clinical tools
The UK Sepsis Trust (2022) The sepsis manual. 6th edn. Birmingham: The UK Sepsis Trust.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2016) Sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management. NICE guideline NG51. Updated 13 September 2017.
  • Please check that guidance is applicable for your country. NICE guidance is officially England and Wales only.
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NHS England (2017) Sepsis guidance implementation advice for adults, London: NHS England.
  • This document describes an operational definition of sepsis and supports the implementation of the NICE guidelines on the identification and treatment of sepsis.
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Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W et al. (2021) Executive summary: Surviving Sepsis Campaign: international guidelines for the management of sepsis and septic shock 2021, Critical Care Medicine, 49(11), pp. 1974–1982.
Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W et al. (2021) Surviving Sepsis Campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021, Critical Care Medicine, 49(11), p. e1063.
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (2014) Care of the deteriorating patient: consensus recommendations 139, Edinburgh: SIGN.
Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour C, et al. (2016) The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (sepsis-3), JAMA, 315 (8) pp.801-810.
  • Includes the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score.
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European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM): Guidelines and consensus statements
We would like to thank the RCN Critical Care and In-flight nursing community for their input into the development of this subject guide.

Books

Book cover Baid H, Creed F and Hargreaves J (editors) (2016) Oxford handbook of critical care nursing (2nd edition), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Book cover Clarke D and Malecki-Ketchell A (editors) (2016) Nursing the acutely ill adult: priorities in assessment and management (2nd edition), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Book cover Mancini N (2015) Sepsis: diagnostic methods and protocols, New York: Humana.
Book cover Ortiz-Ruiz G and Dueñas-Castell C (editors) (2017) Sepsis, New York: Springer.
Book cover Parsons P and Wiener-Kronish J (eds.) (2018) Critical care secrets. 6th edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Book cover Peate I and Dutton H (2021) Acute nursing care: recognising and responding to medical emergencies. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.
Book cover Suh G J (ed.) (2018) Essentials of shock management: a scenario-based approach. Singapore: Springer.
Book cover Ward N and Levy M (editors) (2017) Sepsis: definitions, pathophysiology and the challenge of bedside management, Cham: Humana Press.
Book cover Wiersinga W J and Seymour C W (eds. ) (2018) Handbook of sepsis. Cham: Springer.
Book cover Woodrow P (2018) Intensive care nursing: a framework for practice. 4th edn. London: Routledge.

Book subject searches

Use this link to see details of books the RCN libraries hold on this topic.

Journal articles

Use these links for details of journal articles on each topic.

Journals

Book cover Journals of interest for sepsis. Use these links to see details of availability.

Explore

The Sepsis Game
  • A game designed in collaboration with UK Sepsis Trust and NHS England for frontline clinical staff and support workers. It is an exciting, unusual and effective way to learn about sepsis. It can be played online.
    Play online
  • Borrow from RCN Library Services
RCN Congress debate: Sepsis (22nd May 2019)
  • This meeting of Congress discusses how we can further reduce avoidable harm and death from sepsis. This item was originally a Matter for Debate and was changed to a resolution. The resolution was passed.
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Scott K (2019) Life beyond sepsis, RCN Bulletin,3 June.
  • Quadruple amputee Tom Ray talks about the impact sepsis had on him and how he developed resilience to overcome its devastating effects.
    Article
NHS Choices: Sepsis
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Caroline Lynch

Editor of this guide

RCN Library and Archive Service

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Page last updated - 21/12/2022

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