On Aug. 30, Magnolia Medical published a report entitled, “State of Sepsis Awareness 2023” in recognition of Sepsis Awareness Month in September. The report details findings surrounding Americans’ attitudes toward sepsis.
Key highlights of the report include:
- 67% of respondents impacted by sepsis in the past said they were more ‘extremely fearful’ about catching and infection during a hospital stay compared to those without sepsis experience
- Of those who had deal with sepsis, 30% said they were more likely to ‘strongly agree’ that healthcare providers should be more cautious when prescribing antibiotics.
- Those impacted by sepsis possessed a 30% higher familiarity with the term AMR [antimicrobial resistance]
- Respondents who had sepsis, or a loved one with sepsis, in the past were said they were 46% more concerned ‘about the effects of infections caused by antimicrobial resistance bacteria on your current or future health’
- 38% of respondents said they were more likely to ‘strongly agree’ that ‘more education is needed for patients about antimicrobial resistant bacteria’
- 49% of respondents that were impacted by sepsis said they were more aware ‘that inaccurate results from a blood culture test can lead to unnecessary administration of antibiotics’ compared to respondents that had not been impacted by sepsis in the past
Donald Berwick, MD, Founder of Institute for Healthcare Improvement, was quoted in the report. He said, “The names of the patients whose lives we save can never be known. Our contribution will be what did not happen to them. And, though they are unknown, we will know that mothers and fathers are at graduations and weddings they would have missed, and that grandchildren will know grandparents they might never have known, and holidays will be taken, and work completed, and books read, and symphonies heard, and gardens tended that, without our work, would never have been.”
