Despite the fact that sepsis is one of the most deadly and costly medical conditions for hospitals, doctors frequently fail to properly document this immune system response to infection that kills more than 250,000 Americans each year.
“At least 30 percent of the time, the physicians who are writing their notes do not use the words sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock. And, so it doesn’t appear in the record,” says Steven Simpson, MD, professor of medicine and interim director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Kansas.
