Q&A: Using Phoenix criteria

Q: Has anyone implemented the use of the pediatric sepsis Phoenix criteria or started discussions with their pediatric providers and, if so, would you be willing to share your experience so far?

Response #1: We are currently doing an evaluation of the overall impact if clinicians do implement these criteria. Currently, we are working on getting a compliant query that will help the team with answering queries such as: “Yes, they use Phoenix criteria; however, for [organization] criteria please indicate.” We are in the early stages of this process, however. We believe it will have a significant impact in multiple areas.

Response #2: My pediatric champion is a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) provider. When the new criteria were released, she was attending a conference in Arizona, and there was a session dedicated to review of the Phoenix criteria. Our department felt the study was very inclusive of a wide range of patients, and very sound. Given there had been no updates since 2005, providers at the conference were ready to consider additional factors when diagnosing sepsis. We have adopted the criteria at our organization and are considering updates to the BPA alert we currently have in place.

Response #3: Please look at the attached slide deck. It goes through the background of the criteria and covers the major details, so it may be helpful as you discuss the criteria with providers.

Editor’s note: This question was answered by members of the ACDIS CDI Leadership Council. For the purposes of this article, all Council member answers have been deidentified.