Hospital systems have recently instituted early systemic sepsis recognition systems, where vital signs and laboratory findings are monitored and automatically alert providers to potential sepsis. Although there are very few reports evaluating the use of sepsis alert systems outside of the emergency room or intensive care unit, many hospital systems have made the decision to apply the sepsis alarm protocols to all inpatients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if an alarm system using systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria is a valuable tool to predict systemic sepsis in the immediate postoperative period (POD#0–4) after total joint arthroplasty (TJA). 10,791 primary and revision TJA patients at one institution, from 2010–2014, were retrospectively reviewed for positive SIRS criteria on each hospital day from the date of surgery to postoperative day four (POD#4). SIRS criteria included temperature > 38°C or < 36°C, heart rate > 90 beats per minute, respiratory rate > 20 breaths per minute, and white blood cell (WBC) > 12,000/mm3 or < 4,000/mm3. Additionally, hospital coding data was cross-referenced to identify patients who were diagnosed with systemic sepsis within 10 days after having a TJA.Aim
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