Adherence to sepsis protocol in a high-risk maternity reference center.
Marianny Medeiros de Moraes, Amuzza Aylla Pereira Dos Santos, Juliana Duque da Silva de Sá Leitão and 5 others
PMID 39258607WHAT IT FOUND
In 105 pregnant patients, nurses started sepsis protocol, but execution was fragmented.
Lactate was collected in 97.1%, blood cultures in 98.1%, antibiotics in 94.3%, hydration in 51.4%, and some antibiotics were changed outside protocol.
Key findings
01In the 105 records reviewed, lactate collection was documented in 97.1% of cases and blood culture collection in 98.1%.
02Antibiotic therapy was administered in 94.3% of cases and hydration in 51.4%; ceftriaxone was prescribed in 90% of cases.
03Obstetric medical professionals prescribed antibiotics not included in the protocol and suspended protocol steps that the nursing team had initiated.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
It is a retrospective review of records, so it can describe what was documented but cannot show that protocol adherence improved maternal outcomes. The sample was a convenience sample from the hospital studied, so the results may not apply to other maternity services. Incomplete or incorrectly filled records were excluded, and some vital signs had no record, so the true frequency of signs and protocol steps may be misclassified. The paper does not report maternal deaths, intensive care admission, or pregnancy outcomes in the results, so it cannot show whether the protocol steps changed patient outcomes. It reports that medical professionals changed or suspended protocol steps, but it does not quantify how often this happened or how it affected patients.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the high protocol step percentages as proof that this care reduced maternal sepsis deaths or complications. This study described records and found the steps were not fully executed, so it cannot show patient outcomes.