Open Collections

Description

Dataset Description: This dataset contains materials from a parent study within the Smart Triage program of research. Materials include the parent study protocol and associated documents. See the Metadata section below for links to related publications and datasets.

Background: The global burden of pediatric mortality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains high, with 4.9 million deaths in children under 5 in 2016 . Most of these deaths are due to sepsis, which is defined as the body’s response to an infection (such as pneumonia, diarrhea, or malaria) leading to organ damage and ultimately morbidity and mortality. Sepsis disproportionately affects socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in LMICs. Encouragingly, most deaths from sepsis are preventable by early detection and treatment. The majority of deaths occurring in health facilities happen occur as a result of delayed, inadequate, or inappropriate treatment. Every hour of delay in therapy is associated with an escalating risk of morbidity and mortality. Simple, highly effective interventions to treat sepsis, including antimicrobials and intravenous (IV) fluids, are available at care facilities in LMICs. Yet availability and readiness to provide treatment is not always enough —timely treatment may not occur because the sickest children are not prioritized.

In LMICs, patients are frequently admitted and treated on a first-come, first-serve basis, leading to delayed care for children who need urgent treatment. These priority children can receive faster treatment if every child is rapidly triaged upon arrival to identify danger and priority signs of sepsis. However, sepsis is a syndrome that mimics many conditions and few health workers can confidently triage and diagnose sepsis. Evidence-based trigger tools and protocols may be useful in skilled hands, but require complex decision-making based on physiological, clinical, social, and laboratory parameters.

The purpose of this study is to develop a digital triage tool that can be used rapidly and reliably, without the need for extensive memorization or training, by frontline health workers to identify critically ill children (including those with sepsis) .

Methods: This is a pre- (Phase I) and post- (Phase II) study at 2 Ugandan hospitals and 2 Kenyan hospitals.

Phase I: Baseline data collection and model development. Phase II: Evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.
Ethics Declaration: This study was approved by the Makerere University School of Public Health Institutional Review Board in Uganda (743), the Uganda National Institute of Science and Technology (HS528ES), the Kenya Medical Research Institute Scientific Ethics Review Unit (3958), and the University of British Columbia Research Ethics Board in Canada (PI/II: H19-02398; PIII: H20-00484).

Associated datasets:
Smart Triage: Clinical Data - PRST


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