Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Sepsis Care Pathways-Qualitative Pilot Expert Interviews

Background/Objectives: Despite recent decades' rapid advances in the management of patients with sepsis and septic shock, global sepsis mortality and post-acute sepsis morbidity rates remain high. Our aim was, therefore, to provide a first overview of sepsis care pathways as well as barriers and supportive conditions for optimal pre-clinical, clinical, and post-acute sepsis care in Germany. Methods: Between May and September 2023, we conducted semi-structured, video-based, one-to-one pilot expert interviews with healthcare professionals representing pre-hospital, clinical, and post-acute care settings. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed according to the principles of Mayring's content analysis. Results: The eight interviewed professionals identified perceived critical success factors along the entire care pathway with regard to early detection (e.g., disease awareness), early acute treatment (e.g., unknown origin of infection), rehabilitation/aftercare (e.g., availability of primary care actors), and patient transitions within and between sectors (e.g., advance notice of patient arrival). These critical factors comprised: (1) the characteristics of the staff providing care (e.g., available experience), (2) the aids/utilities used (e.g., SOPs), (3) the presentation of the disease (e.g., clear symptoms), (4) the workplace (e.g., high workload), and (5) the cooperation between the staff caring for the patient (e.g., announced and standardized handovers). Conclusions: Apart from the specific recommendations that can be derived from the individual factors presented, it can be summarized that all levels of care seem only to be purposeful if providers collaborate and communicate efficiently (i.e., correct triage, multiple-eye principle, transfer management, provision of content-rich medical/discharge letters).