Researchers examined the differences in predictive accuracy and time-to-first-detection of high sepsis risk between the NST and SSA as well as the impact of the SSA on NST manual workload. They examined the study variables for all adult patients in 12 U.S. hospitals in 2013.
The study found that the SSA reduced the risk of incorrectly categorizing patients at low risk for sepsis. It also detected high sepsis risk in half the time compared to NST. SSA reduced redundant NST screens by 70 percent and manual screening hours by 64 percent to 72 percent.
However, the SSA demonstrated lower specificity and positive predictive value as compared to NST. In addition, the SSA design included all of the NST components but lacked nurse-patient interaction.
Thus, study authors concluded that while the “SSA has merit as a digital sepsis alert,” it should be considered “an adjunct to versus an alternative for the NST.”
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