Sepsis information and resources

Sepsis pathways

The NT Health sepsis pathways are for use in all settings. They incorporate evidence-based risk criteria to help clinicians recognise sepsis early and support early escalation of care and management.​

• Acute care adult sepsis pathway - Top End, East Arnhem and Big Rivers regions PDF (376.2 KB)
• Acute care paediatric sepsis pathway - Top End, East Arnhem and Big Rivers regions PDF (300.4 KB)
• Primary health care adult sepsis pathway PDF (180.6 KB)
• Primary health care paediatric sepsis pathway PDF (178.4 KB)
• Acute care adult sepsis pathway - Central Australia and Barkly regions PDF (372.4 KB)
• Acute care paediatric sepsis pathway - Central Australia and Barkly regions PDF (299.4 KB)

Sepsis guidelines

The NT Health sepsis guidelines are intended to support the sepsis pathways and provide further guidance in:

• Best practice and a consistent approach across all NT health services for early sepsis recognition and management.
• Where sepsis is suspected, empower staff to escalate care to clinicians experienced in recognising and managing sepsis.
• Engaging senior medical staff in sepsis recognition and management of patients.
• Supporting the provision of education and information for patient and carers.

For acute care:

• Adult acute care - NT Health sepsis recognition and management guideline PDF (1.3 MB)
• Paediatric acute care - NT Health sepsis recognition and management guideline PDF (1.2 MB)

For primary health care:

• Adult primary health care - NT Health sepsis recognition and management guideline PDF (1.1 MB)
• Paediatric primary health care - NT Health sepsis recognition and management guideline PDF (1.2 MB)
• Vancomycin for Sepsis PPHC Remote Procedure PDF (688.6 KB)

The Remote Health Atlas and Primary Health Network sites have updated their sepsis guidelines to align with NT Health to ensure consistency of practice across the NT.

Sepsis clinical care standard

The goal of the sepsis clinical care standard is to ensure that a patient presenting with signs and symptoms of sepsis receives optimal care, from symptom onset through to discharge from hospital and survivorship care.

This includes timely recognition of sepsis, early and appropriate antimicrobial therapy and continuity of care from the acute setting through to discharge and survivorship (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC), 2022).

The sepsis clinical care standard is linked to the antimicrobial stewardship clinical care standard, for more information go to the ACQHC website.

Online learning modules

A sepsis e-learning module, Sepsis Introduction, is available to all health professionals via MyLearning. This module helps clinicians to understand what sepsis is, its impact in the NT, how to identify and manage sepsis, and with the use of case studies, assists in applying the sepsis pathways into practice.

A sepsis e-learning module is available from the Remote Area Health Corps (RAHC) e-learning site. This is for all health professionals who want to learn more about sepsis. The e-module uses case studies to familiarise you with the NT Health sepsis pathways and tests your knowledge about sepsis recognition and management processes.

To complete the learning module, go to the RAHC website.

Resources for the clinical nurse educator​​

Watch the sepsis pathophysiology video.

World Sepsis​ Day quiz cards - host your own game show

Download the ​​World Sepsis Day quiz cards PUB (186.0 KB).

Resources for the medical officers​

Septris 2.0 is a mobile-accessible, case-based, online game launched worldwide and developed for hospital-based medical and surgical, intensive care and emergency department physicians and nurses for treating Sepsis.

Read more about Septris 2.0

Contacts

For more information and assistance, contact Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety by emailing SafetyandQuality.DoH@nt.gov.au.