Screening Tools Used by Nurses to Identify Sepsis in Adult Patients
Ebai, Doris Babeh (2017)
Ebai, Doris Babeh
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu
2017
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017120920369
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2017120920369
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to describe screening tools used by nurses in the identification of sepsis in adult patients. The research question was: what are the screening tools that nurses use to identify sepsis in adult patients? The objective of this thesis is to raise awareness of sepsis screening tools and support nurses in their role of early identification of sepsis. Sepsis is a worldwide public health issue that needs the same attention as other deadly diseases like cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Clinical studies on sepsis indicate that early recognition is crucial for survival from sepsis infection and that nurses play a vital role in its identification process.
The literature review methodology was used to investigate this topic. The material was searched through academic online databases (Laura Finna, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), ProQuest, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google scholar) using search words related to the purpose and research question. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were established to evaluate the relevance of the articles retrieved. Critical appraisal tool (CASP) was used to assess the quality of the potential review articles. Twelve (12) scientific peer-reviewed articles with high critical appraisal scores were selected as the material for the analysis which was carried out through the inductive content analysis process. This process entails four phases: decontextualisation, recontextualisation, categorisation, and compilation using both the manifest (explicit) and latent(implicit) interpretations of the data.
The findings revealed five groups of screening tools used by nurses to identify sepsis in adult patients: tools based on patient data, clinical criteria of sepsis (SIRS) in conjunction with other clinical variables, tools based on the international consensus definition of sepsis, tools based on scoring systems, and other sepsis screening tools. The conclusion was that sepsis screening tools should be flexible to detect sepsis in all patients and that nurses should consider the patients' characteristics when assessing sepsis. Based on the findings of this thesis, it was recommended that further research on this topic is needed. Also, additional training should be provided to nursing students and nurses on how to effectively assess patients with suspected sepsis within different care environments.
The literature review methodology was used to investigate this topic. The material was searched through academic online databases (Laura Finna, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), ProQuest, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google scholar) using search words related to the purpose and research question. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were established to evaluate the relevance of the articles retrieved. Critical appraisal tool (CASP) was used to assess the quality of the potential review articles. Twelve (12) scientific peer-reviewed articles with high critical appraisal scores were selected as the material for the analysis which was carried out through the inductive content analysis process. This process entails four phases: decontextualisation, recontextualisation, categorisation, and compilation using both the manifest (explicit) and latent(implicit) interpretations of the data.
The findings revealed five groups of screening tools used by nurses to identify sepsis in adult patients: tools based on patient data, clinical criteria of sepsis (SIRS) in conjunction with other clinical variables, tools based on the international consensus definition of sepsis, tools based on scoring systems, and other sepsis screening tools. The conclusion was that sepsis screening tools should be flexible to detect sepsis in all patients and that nurses should consider the patients' characteristics when assessing sepsis. Based on the findings of this thesis, it was recommended that further research on this topic is needed. Also, additional training should be provided to nursing students and nurses on how to effectively assess patients with suspected sepsis within different care environments.