Last month was Sepsis Awareness Month and across DHU we used this opportunity to raise awareness of the condition and share advice with both colleagues and patients. It was during this month that caught up with one of our Clinical Practitioner Paramedics, who it is safe to say has had plenty of experience of diagnosing Sepsis.
Jonathan Wigg is based in our Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland region and we received a very nice message from the partner of a patient who was treated by Jonathon after he diagnosed the patient with Sepsis earlier this year.
It’s not an easy condition to diagnose, as Jonathan says: “Some of the symptoms include a high fever, muscle aches, a fast heart rate, perhaps not urinating as often as usual, and it is normally as a result of another recent low-level infection. Lots of these symptoms are common in other minor conditions which is why it can be quite difficult to spot.
“Essentially Sepsis is when the body’s immune system goes into overdrive and starts working against itself, damaging organs, infecting the blood and even tissue. It is a life threatening condition and the key to a quick and full recovery is a fast diagnosis and starting treatment as soon as possible which is why swift intervention is essential.
“Spotting and diagnosing it is sometimes not easy and difficult to teach. I’ve been a Paramedic for a number of years so have learned to trust my instincts and we were urged very early in our Paramedic training to always think, could it be sepsis. I’d say that 99 percent of those presenting with symptoms I’ve described are suffering from low-level infection, but we still see two or three cases each month that are sepsis and need urgent, intensive hospital treatment. Being able to differentiate between the two is vital to the patient’s recovery and that comes with experience.
“It’s also important to listen to the patient because they know their body better than anyone and usually has an inkling that something is different, wrong. My advice to anyone concerned would be to listen to your body, seek medical advice if you think it’s more than flu or more than a simple infection from a bite for example that seems to be getting worse and causing you to feel ill. More often than not it isn’t sepsis, but if it is then you need to be seen by a health professional.
“We’re fortunate in Leicestershire that we have very close working relationships between our Hubs, Urgent Treatment Centres, GPs and hospitals. If I suspect sepsis, then I can be in touch with the hospital and have them referred immediately. We’re not set up to manage sepsis long term in the Hubs but we can do the initial tests to confirm or rule out the condition. If sepsis is suspected, then we can arrange an urgent conveyance to a hospital immediately where they will be ready to treat the patient. The Leicestershire system is very well set up that way.
We’d like to share some of the message given to Jonathan from the patient’s relative, keeping their identity confidential, to show how important Jonathan’s work, and that of his colleagues and our system partners, are in keeping patients safe.
"On behalf of my partner and I we wish to thank Jonathan for his excellent care. We think that if my partner had not been seen and treated this way, we could be talking about a loss of life.
“My partner was gravely Ill and deteriorating quickly which was what Jonathan suspected and it was later confirmed as sepsis. Thankfully treatment is now underway in hospital. We formally thank him with gratitude for his kindness, clinical skill and clinical assessment, judgement and treatment in very difficult circumstances.
“He is a credit to your organisation and we are very grateful to him.”
Jonathan added: “In sepsis cases we don’t often see how the patient recovers as we have a working diagnosis and then hand the patient over very quickly by ambulance; as I said before, time is of the essence. It’s lovely to read this note, no doubt written under incredibly difficult circumstances. I can tell you with absolute certainty that sepsis is horrendous, even recovery, so to receive this message means a great deal and I’m delighted to know that we’ve been able to help.”