The role of nurses in caring for older adults with sepsis in the intensive care unit.
Main Article Content
Abstract
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that requires care in the intensive care unit, especially in older adults who tend to have serious complications, a prolonged length of hospital stay, and a high mortality rate compared to younger patients. Along with factors related to the aging process, including the immune system weakening and the body’s systems deteriorating, and important characteristics of older adults with sepsis include atypical presentations such as hypothermia, acute confusion state, loss of appetite, and malaise, resulting in complex and serious health problems. Screening sepsis to ensure older adults receive proper and timely treatment can reduce multiple organ dysfunction and mortality rates. Therefore, nurses must have the knowledge, understanding, and ability to care for older adults with sepsis while being admitted to the intensive care unit, which requires expert nursing care to achieve rapid screening, accurate diagnosis, and standard treatment to ensure patient safety without serious complications.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ลิขสิทธิ์ของบทความที่ตีพิมพ์เป็นของวารสารพยาบาลศาสตร์ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย ทั้งฉบับตีพิมพ์เป็นรูปเล่มและเอกสารออนไลน์
References
Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW,
Shankar-Hari M, Annane D, Bauer M, et
al. The Third International Consensus
Definitions for Sepsis and Septic Shock
(Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):801-10.
doi:10.1001/jama.2016.0287.
Kotfis K, Wittebole X, Jaschinski U,
Solé-Violán J, Kashyap R, Leone M,
et al. A worldwide perspective of sepsis
epidemiology and survival according to
age: Observational data from the ICON
audit. J Crit Care. 2019;51:122-132.
Goodacre S, Fuller G, Conroy S, Hendrikse
C. Diagnosis and management of sepsis
in the older adult. BMJ. 2023;382:e075585.
doi: 10.1136/bmj-2023-075585. PMID:
Kingren MS, Starr ME, Saito H. Divergent
sepsis pathophysiology in older adults.
Antioxid Redox Signal. 2021;35(16):1358-
doi:10.1089/ars.2021.0056.
Conner T, Thompson J, Tiplady S. Sepsis in
the older person. NRC. 2021;23(8):1-7.
doi: 10.12968/nrec. 2021.23.8.3.
Wan MS, Mat NM, Md RA. Sepsis and its
impact on outcomes in elderly patients
admitted to a malaysian intensive care
unit. Malays J Med Sci. 2022 Jun;29(3):
-150. doi: 10.21315/mjms2022.29.3.14.
Nieves AU, Love PJ, Estey AJ. Improving the
Accuracy of Sepsis Screening by Nurses
in Hospitalized Older Adults: A Pilot
Interventional Study. J Gerontol Nurs.
Jun;47(6):27-34. doi: 10.3928/
-20210510-01.
Singjan N, Sutti N, Monkong S. Perceptions
of relatives about symptoms and signs in
older adults with sepsis: A cross-sectional
study. Pacific Rim Int J Nurs Res. 2023;27
(3):431-444
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What is sepsis? [Internet]; 2021 [cited
October]. Available from: https://
www.cdc.gov/sepsis/what-is-sepsis.html.
World Health Organization. Sepsis [Internet];
[cited 2024 March]. Available from:
https://www.who.int/news-room/
fact-sheets/detail/sepsis
Brunker LB, Boncyk CS, Rengel KF, Hughes
CG. Elderly patients and management
in intensive Care Units (ICU): Clinical
Challenges. Clin Interv Aging. 2023;18:93-112.
Yoshikawa TT, Reyes BJ, Ouslander JG. Sepsis
in older adults in long-term care
facilities: challenges in diagnosis and
management. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2019;
(11):2234-39. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16194.
Epub 2019 Oct 16. PMID: 31617944.
Bunyaphatkun P, Sindhu S, Davidson PM,
Utriyaprasit K, Viwatwongkasem C,
Chartbunchachai W. Factors influencing
clinical deterioration in persons with
sepsis. Pacific Rim Int J Nurs Res. 2017;
(2):135-47.
Limpawattana P, Phungoen P, Mitsungnern
T, Laosuangkoon W, Tansangworn N.
Atypical presentations of older adults
at the emergency department and
associated factors. Arch Gerontol
Geriatr. 2016;62:97-102. doi: 10.1016/j.
archger.2015.08.016.10 Journal of Nursing Research, Innovation, and Health Vol. 36 No. 1 January - April 202
Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W, Antonelli
M, Coopersmith CM, French C, et al.
Surviving sepsis campaign: international
guidelines for management of sepsis
and septic shock 2021. Intensive Care
Med. 2021;47(11):1181-247. doi: 10.1007/
s00134-021-06506-y.
Dugar S, Choudhary C, Duggal A. Sepsis and
septic shock: Guideline-based management.
Cleve Clin J Med. 2020;87(1):53-64. doi:
3949/ccjm.87a.18143.
Belleza M. Sepsis and Septic Shock [Internet].
[cited 2023 November]. Available