Sepsis in the Intensive Care Setting

Sepsis is a complex systemic illness. According to Kruse et al. (2016), neutropenic sepsis is a frequent complication in cancer patients. Although the underlying disease is curable, once transferred to the ICU with sepsis these patients have poor outcomes. • Patients who develop sepsis are commonly admitted to an Intensive Care Unit. Working on the Medical Intensive Care Unit (JMICU) at the James Cancer Hospital, one sees septic cancer patients often. This cancer diagnosis places patients at a higher risk of developing sepsis. Some patients also have a high risk due to decreased immunity from chemotherapy treatments. Oncology patients can become septic from the common cold or flu, they are highly susceptible to many infections that a typical person can defend from. According to Vioral and Wentley (2015), neutropenic sepsis results as a post-cancer treatment complications and is considered an on-cologic emergency. Neutropenic sepsis can result in mortality, especially if it is not identified at an early stage