Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center seeks to educate public on Sepsis

September is Sepsis awareness month, and Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center will be joining in the effort to help educate the public on this deadly, misunderstood, but preventable condition. Mountainside Medical Center was the first hospital in New Jersey to earn The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for the Certification of Distinction in the Management of Sepsis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sepsis is a complication of an infection. It occurs when the body releases an overwhelming amount of chemicals into the bloodstream to fight an infection triggering a severe inflammatory response, which can be life-threatening by causing tissue damage, organ failure, and death. A sepsis committee was formed at the hospital to promote awareness and education around this condition.

“If we can make health care workers and the general public aware of the early symptoms of sepsis, we can decrease mortality rates from sepsis with early treatment,” said Nancy Chiocchi, MSN, BS, ACNPC, RN, co-chair of the Mountainside Medical Center Sepsis Committee. “It’s essential that hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and the like, implement evidence-based protocols and train staff to quickly identify and treat sepsis.”

The infections that most lead to sepsis include pneumonia, abdominal infection, kidney infection, or bloodstream infection. “However, any type of infection – bacterial, viral or fungal – can trigger it too,” explained Barbara Salapata, BSN, RN, CCRN and co-chair of the Mountainside Medical Center Sepsis Committee. “The elderly and people with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to sepsis. Every year, more than one million people develop sepsis, and approximately one third will succumb to the condition because of the development of septic shock.”

Early symptoms of sepsis include:

• Body temperature above 101 F (38.3 C) or below 96.8 F (36 C)
• Heart rate higher than 90 beats a minute
• Respiratory rate higher than 20 breaths a minute

As it progresses, symptoms include:

• Significantly decreased urine output
• Abrupt change in mental status
• Decrease in platelet count
• Difficulty breathing
• Abnormal heart pumping function
• Abdominal pain
• Low blood pressure

Knowing the signs and symptoms of sepsis is important knowledge within our community. Early detection of sepsis is the key to survival! For more information on sepsis, visit www.sepsis.org

About Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Medical Center

Mountainside Medical Center has been serving Montclair and its surrounding New Jersey communities since 1891. The hospital provides patients immediate access to innovative and effective treatment alternatives at specialized centers within the hospital that focus on imaging, women’s health, cancer care, surgery, obesity, stroke and chronic kidney disease. Mountainside Medical Center is designated as a Primary Stroke Center by the NJ State Department of Health and Senior Services and is one of only a few community hospitals licensed by the State to perform emergency cardiac angioplasty. To learn more about Mountainside Medical Center visitwww.mountainsidehosp.com.

ABOUT HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care. Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 13 hospitals, including two academic medical centers, two children's hospitals and nine community hospitals, physician practices, more than 120 ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, and urgent care and after-hours centers. Hackensack Meridian Health has 28,000 team members, more than 6,000 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The Network's notable distinctions include having one of only five major academic medical centers in the nation to receive Healthgrades America's 50 Best Hospitals Award for five or more consecutive years, the number one hospital in New Jersey as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, recipient of the John M. Eisenberg Award for Patient Safety and Quality from The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum, a six-time recipient of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For," one of the "20 Best Workplaces in Health Care" in the nation, and the number one "Best Place to Work for Women." Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

The hospitals of Hackensack Meridian Health include: academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune; children's hospitals – Joseph M. Sanzari Children's Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children's Hospital in Neptune; community hospitals – Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, and Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

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