HCA Healthcare's SPOT technology is an alert system that monitors patients 24/7
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Ocala Health, an affiliate of HCA Healthcare, has announced the successful implementation of an automated, real-time system to more quickly identify patients with sepsis, allowing caregivers to intervene quickly to save lives. HCA Healthcare's Sepsis Prediction and Optimization of Therapy, or SPOT, technology so far has been used with 2.5 million patients and, in conjunction with the use of evidence-based clinical interventions, has helped save an estimated 8,000 lives in the last five years.
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Sepsis is an overwhelming infection that can lead to total body failure, and approximately 270,000 Americans die from it each year, making it more deadly than breast cancer, prostate cancer, and AIDS combined, according to Sepsis Alliance. Additionally, it is the No. 1 cause of death in non-cardiac intensive care units and the 11th leading cause of death overall in the U.S. Because the symptoms of sepsis are similar to those of many other illnesses, diagnosing it can be very challenging; however, studies have shown with early recognition followed by aggressive treatment, patient survival can increase significantly because sepsis mortality increases by 4 to 7 percent every hour it goes undetected.
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"Sepsis is a medical emergency that must be treated just as aggressively as a heart attack or a stroke. It is an overwhelming response to infection that turns the body's immune system against itself, and as we've seen in stories that have made global headlines, it can lead to tissue damage, severe organ failure, and even death. There are approximately 1.5 million cases in the U.S. each year" says Sabrina Braun, MHA, CNO, Ocala Regional Medical Center.
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HCA Healthcare's SPOT, which uses the popular dog name because it sniffs out sepsis in a way humans cannot, is an algorithm and alert system for the early detection of sepsis. Created by HCA Healthcare clinical and IT experts using data from millions of hospitalizations, SPOT continuously monitors vital signs, lab results, nursing reports and other data that can inform treatment, and sees the critical data points in patients' electronic health records. HCA Healthcare's SPOT links algorithmic sepsis detection with clinical workflow. It quickly alerts care teams of important and often subtle changes in a patient's condition so they can take appropriate action.
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"The SPOT technology is like an additional set of eyes, it is constantly checking the patients and helps us identify if patients have sepsis. It speeds up the whole process. SPOT helps us identify sepsis quickly, treat sepsis quickly, and provides excellent patient outcomes" says Jennifer Counts, RN, Sepsis Coordinator at Ocala Regional Medical Center.
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Ocala Health is part of HCA Healthcare's nationwide network of care and began using SPOT technology August 28, 2018. Because HCA Healthcare's SPOT algorithm was informed by vast data from 31 million annual patient care episodes, it is highly sensitive and extremely precise. It sees signs of potential sepsis humans cannot see while excluding instances when humans inaccurately suspect sepsis. HCA Healthcare's national clinical data warehouse, which receives information from the electronic health record, is the heart of HCA's data ecosystem, providing the ability to aggregate and analyze data streams in real time and feed tools like SPOT that, in turn, provide actionable information to caregivers.
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Ocala Health encompasses Ocala Regional Medical Center, a 256-bed facility located in the heart of Ocala, and West Marion Community Hospital, a 174-bed hospital located in west Marion County, and Summerfield ER, a freestanding emergency department located in southern Marion County. Ocala Regional Medical Center is a Level II Trauma Center and a Comprehensive Stroke Center. The hospitals offer a host of other quality and award winning services including orthopedic care and joint replacement, robotic surgery, cardiac and vascular services including open heart surgery and interventional procedures, emergency, neurological and rehabilitation services, and bariatric surgery. Ocala Health has the only Commission on Cancer approved cancer center in Marion County. Ocala Health's outpatient facilities include Family Care Specialists, a primary care network of six locations throughout Marion County; Advanced Imaging Centers; a freestanding Wound and Hyperbaric Center; a Senior Wellness Community Center; and three surgical and physician specialty practices.
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Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation's leading providers of healthcare services, comprising 185 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 21 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44 percent. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 31 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.
