Case Study – ‘What I’ve learnt as a sepsis survivor’: John Burgess
Australian broadcaster and game show host John Burgess considers himself one of the lucky survivors of sepsis who “dodged a bullet”. He is an advocate of the Sepsis Clinical Care Standard, released by the Commission on 30 June 2022.
In February this year, John Burgess became rapidly unwell with the life-threatening condition sepsis. After waking up one morning feeling nauseated, weak and drowsy, he went downhill within a matter of hours. Due to his wife’s insistence, he was rushed to hospital and found himself in the intensive care unit of a Perth hospital.
“Crucially, the graveness of my condition was recognised early by the medical team. Even though I didn't know I had an infection, they recognised the signs of sepsis and started antibiotics straight away,” he says.
Today Burgess welcomes the new national Sepsis Clinical Care Standard, launched by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, which will improve early recognition of sepsis and lead to better outcomes for survivors.
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