Sepsis monitoring and control

1. A computer-implemented sepsis alerting method, comprising:

automatically extracting with a computer system, from records maintained for a patient under care in a healthcare facility, information from an electronic medical record;

obtaining with the computer system information about real-time status of the patient;

using the information from the electronic medical record and the information about the real-time status to determine whether the patient is likely to be suffering from dangerous probability of sepsis;

electronically alerting an initial caregiver over a network if it is determined that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis exists;

using information from the electronic medical record, after a determined time period relating to a time when the initial caregiver was alerted, to determine whether treatment for sepsis is already being provided to the patient and whether a potentially dangerous level of sepsis continues to exist; and

electronically alerting a follow-up caregiver over a network if it is determined that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis exists and that treatment for sepsis is not already being provided.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the follow-up caregiver is different than the initial caregiver.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining real-time status of the patient comprises querying, with the computer system, a bed-side monitor for the patient or a controller to which the bed-side monitor reports information about the patient.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the patient is likely to be suffering from sepsis comprises applying predetermined rules to values of patient parameters obtained with the computer system.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the values include values for patient heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the values include values generated by a blood test on the patient's blood.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the values include keywords in notes in an electronic medical record for the patient.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable tangible medium having recorded and stored thereon instructions that when executed on one or more electronic computers, perform actions comprising:

automatically extracting with a computer system, from records maintained for a patient under care in a healthcare facility, information from an electronic medical record;

obtaining with the computer system information about real-time status of the patient;

using the information from the electronic medical record and the information about the real-time status to determine whether the patient is likely to be suffering from dangerous probability of sepsis;

using information from the electronic medical record to determine whether treatment for sepsis is already being provided to the patient; and

electronically alerting a caregiver over a network if it is determined that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis exists and to provide a follow-up alert over the network if it is determined that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis continues to exist and that treatment for sepsis has not been provided to the patient in a determined time period.

9. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 8 , wherein the actions further comprise:

electronically automatically monitoring with the computer system the patient's electronic medical record to determine whether intervention has occurred to treat the potentially dangerous level of sepsis; and

providing follow-up electronic alerts if a determination is made that intervention has not occurred.

10. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 8 , wherein obtaining real-time status of the patient comprises querying, with the computer system, a bed-side monitor for the patient or a controller to which the bed-side monitor reports information about the patient.

11. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the patient is likely to be suffering from sepsis comprises applying predetermined rules to values of patient parameters obtained with the computer system.

12. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the values include values for patient heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

13. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the values include values generated by a blood test on the patient's blood.

14. The machine-readable tangible medium of claim 11 , wherein the values include keywords in notes in an electronic medical record for the patient.

15. A computer-implemented system to monitor and report on patient condition, the system comprising:

a computer system that implements a data extractor to automatically extract, from records maintained for a patient under care in a healthcare facility, information from an electronic medical record and obtain information about real-time status of the patient;

a patient evaluator programmed to using information extracted by the data extractor to determine whether the patient is likely to be suffering from dangerous probability of sepsis, and to determine whether treatment for sepsis has been provided to the patient; and

a contact management system arranged to electronically alert a caregiver over a network if the patient evaluator determines that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis exists, and to provide a follow-up alert over the network if the patient evaluator determines that a potentially dangerous level of sepsis continues to exist and that treatment for sepsis has not been provided to the patient in a determined time period.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising an alerting system to determine whether the patient is already receiving treatment for sepsis and to prevent the contact management system from generating an electronic alert if the patient is already receiving treatment for sepsis.

17. The system of claim 15 , further comprising an alerting system to automatically monitor the patient's electronic medical record to determine whether intervention has occurred to treat the potentially dangerous level of sepsis and to initiate follow-up electronic alerts if a determination is made that intervention has not occurred.