Related resources - Sepsis Clinical Care Standard

A number of related resources have been identified which are relevant to the Sepsis Clinical Care Standard.

The Sepsis Clinical Care Standard includes links to resources that may help healthcare services and clinicians to implement the standard. These resources fall broadly into the following categories:

Decision support tools and sepsis pathways and other guidance about sepsis - including state and territory resources

Some states and territories have developed specific clinical decision support tools for use in the acute setting, including:

Sepsis tools (adult and paediatric), from the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission’s SEPSIS KILLS program
Sepsis program tools for adult sepsis including education packages from Clinical Excellence Queensland
Paediatric sepsis program including pathways and tools and education and family support information from Children’s Health Queensland.

In palliative and end-of-life care, management may differ and should align with the:

Other resources include:

Trigger tools and observation charts for recognising and responding to acute deterioration, sepsis-specific tools (for example, LqSOFA and SIRS) and early warning tools (for example, NEWS and MEWS). For more information see Table 1 or the Review of Trigger Tools to Support the Early Identification of Sepsis in Healthcare Settings
Implementing an Adult Sepsis Pathway toolkit from Safer Care Victoria
SOMANZ Guidelines for the Investigation and Management of Sepsis in Pregnancy
NICE sepsis guidance including adult and paediatric risk stratification tools
Sepsis 6 information from the UK Sepsis Trust
Fact sheets and videos about lactate from the NSW SEPSIS KILLS program
Lactate in the deteriorating patient and sepsis – Clinician fact sheet.

Guidelines and tools for recognising and responding to acute deterioration, including patient escalation pathways for each state and territory

National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for recognising and responding to acute physiological deterioration
NSQHS Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Standard
National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards (Recognising and responding to serious deterioration and minimising harm criterion)
NSW Clinical Emergency Response Systems (CERS)
Examples of observation charts with parameters for identifying deterioration and escalating care include
- NSW – Standard Adult General Observation Chart and Between the Flags
- Victoria – Victorian Children’s Tool for Observation and Response
- Queensland – Queensland Adult Deterioration Detection System (QADDS) in adults and Children’s Early Warning Tool (CEWT) in children
- Australian Capital Territory (ACT) – COMPASS
Examples of family and carer escalation pathways include
- NSW – REACH
- ACT – Call And Respond Early (CARE)
- Queensland – Ryan’s Rule
- Victoria – HEAR Me
- Western Australia – Aishwarya’s CARE Call
NICE – Risk stratification tools for adults, children and young people.

Resources to support management of antimicrobial therapy

Education and information for patients and carers during hospitalisation for sepsis, on discharge and through survivorship

Support services such as the Australian Sepsis Network provide information and assistance to people who have survived sepsis and their families at all stages of treatment and recovery
Support services are offered in Queensland to families affected by paediatric sepsis both during the acute phase (peer mentorship program and educational video series) and longer term.
Primary Health Network Health Pathways may provide relevant local information for healthcare services.

In addition to these, a number of implementation resources have been developed to support the Sepsis Clinical Care Standard. These include guidance around the use of antimicrobials and lactate, patient information resources, and discharge planning tools and resources. Case studies are also available illustrating best practice and innovation in sepsis care, and podcasts featuring members of the Sepsis Clinical Care Standard Topic Working Group discussing key aspects of the Sepsis Clinical Care Standard.

Find more in our resource library

Clinical Care Standards