Sepsis

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2022) Statement on the initial antimicrobial treatment of sepsis V2.0. London: AoMRC.

• View page

The UK Sepsis Trust: Clinical tools

• View page

The UK Sepsis Trust (2024) The sepsis manual. 7th edn. Birmingham: The UK Sepsis Trust.

• View page

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2016) Sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management. NICE guideline NG51. Updated 31 January 2024.

• Please check that guidance is applicable for your country. NICE guidance is officially England and Wales only.
  View page

NHS England (2017) Sepsis guidance implementation advice for adults, London: NHS England.

• This document describes an operational definition of sepsis and supports the implementation of the NICE guidelines on the identification and treatment of sepsis.
  View page

Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W et al. (2021) Executive summary: Surviving Sepsis Campaign: international guidelines for the management of sepsis and septic shock 2021, Critical Care Medicine, 49(11), pp. 1974–1982.

• View article

Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W et al. (2021) Surviving Sepsis Campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021, Critical Care Medicine, 49(11), p. e1063.

• View article

Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (2023) Care of the deteriorating patient: consensus recommendations 167, Edinburgh: SIGN.

• View page

Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour C, et al. (2016) The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (sepsis-3), JAMA, 315 (8) pp.801-810.

• Includes the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score.
  View page

European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM): Guidelines and consensus statements

• View page

We would like to thank the RCN Critical Care and In-flight nursing community for their input into the development of this subject guide.

Freeman S, Steen C and Bleakley G (2022) Essentials of nursing critically ill adults. London: SAGE.

• Chapter 7 covers critical care related to systemic inflammatory response
  Borrow from RCN Library services

Myers A and Samuels T (2023) Clinical cases in critical care. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

• Case 13 discusses the patient who is hypotensive with sepsis as one of the potential causes.
  View this eBook
• Borrow from RCN Library services

Peate I and Dutton H (2021) Acute nursing care: recognising and responding to medical emergencies. 2nd edn. Abingdon: Routledge.

• Chapter 12 covers the immune and lymphatic systems, infection and sepsis.
  View this eBook
• Borrow from RCN Library services

Suh G J (ed.) (2018) Essentials of shock management: a scenario-based approach. Singapore: Springer.

• View this eBook

Tait D, Williams C, Barton D and James J (2022) Acute and critical care in adult nursing. 3rd edn. London: Learning Matters.

• View this eBook
• Chapter 7 covers the patient with sepsis and septic shock.
  Borrow from RCN Library services

Wiersinga W J and Seymour C W (eds. ) (2018) Handbook of sepsis. Cham: Springer.

• View this eBook
• Borrow from RCN Library services

Use these links for details of journal articles on each topic.

• Sepsis
• Septic shock

Journals of interest for sepsis. Use these links to see details of availability.

• Critical Care
• Intensive and Critical Care Nursing
• Journal of Critical Care
• Nursing in Critical Care

The Sepsis Game

• A game designed in collaboration with UK Sepsis Trust and NHS England for frontline clinical staff and support workers. It is an exciting, unusual and effective way to learn about sepsis. It can be played online.
  Play online
• Borrow from RCN Library Services

Scott K (2019) Life beyond sepsis, RCN Bulletin,3 June.

• Quadruple amputee Tom Ray talks about the impact sepsis had on him and how he developed resilience to overcome its devastating effects.
  Article

NHS Choices: Sepsis

• Information aimed at the public.
  View page