Perspectives on the Phoenix Sepsis Criteria for the Emergency Medicine Practitioner

Sepsis is one of the leading causes of death among children worldwide. The Society of Critical Care Medicine Pediatric Sepsis Definition Task Force developed and validated the Phoenix sepsis criteria, new clinical criteria for pediatric sepsis and septic shock based on organ dysfunction. Although this represents a significant advancement in standardizing sepsis and septic shock definitions, its applicability in emergency department (ED) settings remains unexplored.

Given that EDs are often the first point of contact for critically ill children, we must examine the use of the Phoenix criteria in these settings and across varying resource levels. In this CME review article, we explore the evolution of pediatric sepsis definitions to the Phoenix sepsis criteria, and its utility, strengths, and limitations in emergency care in both high-resource and low-resource ED settings.