Methods
Study setting
This single-center study of an electronic sepsis alert tool was conducted at a Joint Commission International (JCI)-accredited tertiary care academic medical center. This initiative was a part of a hospital-wide quality-improvement project that addressed the care of patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. The study was performed over a 4-month period from Oct. 1, 2012 to Jan. 31, 2013. The hospital has 900 beds and receives approximately 200,000 ED visits each year. ED admissions represents 46% of the total hospital admissions per year.