Model Design by Kelly Emrick, DHSc, PhD, MBA, BSRT(ARRT)R

SEPSIS Safety System

SEPSIS Triage Command Center

A clearer front-door safety workflow for early recognition, rapid escalation, protocol tracking, and leadership oversight. Built for patient pre-check, ED or urgent care triage, outpatient entry points, and quality review.

Clinical safety note: This prototype supports education, workflow design, and operational triage awareness. It does not diagnose sepsis, replace clinician judgment, or function as a regulated medical device. A patient with severe symptoms should seek immediate emergency care.

Operational Readiness: 91% Live prototype with triage logic, escalation triggers, timer tracking, and command-center metrics.

Active Safety Alerts3Patients awaiting escalation review

Median Arrival to Screen06mTarget: under 10 minutes

Lactate Completion94%Among protocol-triggered cases

Antibiotic Timing88%High-likelihood cases within target

Redesigned Page Purpose

This redesign makes the tool visible, useful, and operational. It separates patient-facing language from clinician-facing logic and leadership-level oversight.

Recognize

Capture infection concern, abnormal vital signs, mental-status change, and symptom escalation before a patient waits.

Front Door

Escalate

Convert red flags into immediate staff notification, triage review, and protocol milestones.

Safety Net

Measure

Track screen time, lactate completion, antibiotic timing, unresolved alerts, and workflow reliability.

Leadership View

Workflow Readiness

91Score

The readiness score combines screening coverage, clinical escalation reliability, protocol completion, and unresolved-alert burden. It is designed for leadership review rather than direct patient diagnosis.

Patient Pre-Check

Use this plain-language pre-check before an appointment, at a kiosk, or during registration. Any red result should move the patient out of routine waiting and into staff review.

Do you think you may have an infection?

How ill do you feel right now?

Fever, chills, shaking, or unusually low temperature New confusion, unusual sleepiness, or hard to stay awake Shortness of breath or breathing much faster than usual Dizziness, fainting, clammy skin, or possible low blood pressure Recent surgery, wound, catheter, dialysis access, or implanted device Chemotherapy, transplant medicine, chronic steroids, or weakened immune system Worsening pain, weakness, vomiting, or inability to keep fluids down

Patient Result

Ready

No result yet

Complete the pre-check to generate a front-door triage recommendation.

Emergency warning: Chest pain, severe trouble breathing, fainting, blue lips, severe confusion, or a rapidly worsening condition should be treated as urgent. The patient should seek immediate emergency evaluation.

Clinical Triage Engine

This layer translates suspected infection plus clinical instability into a structured escalation category. It is intentionally simple for workflow design and should be adapted to local policy.

Suspected infection

Mental status

Respiratory rate

Systolic blood pressure

Heart rate

Temperature °F

Oxygen saturation %

Lactate mmol/L if known

Escalation Output

Routine

Awaiting calculation

Enter values and run the triage engine.

qSOFA-like flags	0
Operational risk points	0
Recommended action	Pending

Today’s Command View

Patients screened

Positive screens

Active alerts

Lactate completion %

Antibiotic timing %

Arrival to screen minutes

Operational Signal

Screening

Positive

Alerts

Protocol

Patient	Entry Time	Signal	Status	Next Action
PT-1042	09:14	Critical	Awaiting provider handoff	Escalate now
PT-1051	09:36	Warning	Lactate pending	Complete lab milestone
PT-1077	10:05	Stable	Monitoring	Recheck if symptoms worsen

Protocol Timer

Use the timer to simulate the moment a high-risk screen is recognized. Milestones create a simple audit trail for the triage workflow.

Elapsed Time00:00Minutes since recognition

Milestones Complete0/7Protocol reliability

Timer StateIdleStart when alert recognized

1Screen completed
Patient or triage intake screen documented. 2Nurse review
Positive screen reviewed by licensed clinical staff. 3Provider notified
Responsible clinician receives alert and patient context. 4Lactate ordered or resulted
Follow local policy for measurement and repeat testing. 5Blood cultures considered
Document culture decision before antimicrobials when feasible. 6Antimicrobial decision
Start, defer, or document clinician rationale based on likelihood and severity. 7Disposition and handoff
Escalation, ED transfer, observation, or routine care documented.

Escalation Playbook

Red Pathway

Suspected infection plus shock concern, severe respiratory distress, new confusion with instability, lactate elevation, or multiple physiologic flags. Immediate clinical review is indicated.

Amber Pathway

Possible infection with one concerning vital-sign or risk feature. Prioritize reassessment, nurse review, and documented escalation threshold.

Green Pathway

No major instability. Continue routine workflow, but advise the patient to report worsening symptoms, fever, confusion, or breathing difficulty.

Methods and Safety Logic

The scoring model combines suspected infection, physiologic instability, altered mental status, patient-reported severity, immune risk, and lactate when available. It is not a validated diagnostic instrument. It is a workflow scaffold for clinical governance, patient-safety design, and simulation.

Component	Tool Role
Suspected infection	Required context for sepsis-oriented escalation logic.
Respiratory rate, systolic pressure, mental status	Used as qSOFA-like bedside warning signals.
Temperature, heart rate, oxygen saturation	Used as operational instability indicators.
Lactate	Used as a severity and resuscitation signal when available.
Protocol milestones	Used for reliability auditing, not diagnostic classification.

Recommended Additions

Patient-safe language: Avoid diagnostic certainty. Use “notify staff” and “seek emergency care” language.

Audit trail: Capture time of recognition, clinician review, lactate decision, antimicrobial decision, and disposition.

Governance panel: Show protocol version, owner, review date, and local policy disclaimer.

Quality view: Track screen-to-review time, unresolved alerts, false-positive review, and completion rate.

Equity lens: Monitor missed screens by entry route, language preference, age group, and digital-access barrier.