Nurse unable to escalate care for a deteriorating septic patient despite clear clinical signs, due to lack of resources (telemetry, higher-level care) and physician reluctance.

Workarounds Described

• called rapid response despite physician disagreement
• verbally urged PA to move patient multiple times
• waited for BP to bottom as de facto criteria

Implied Software Gaps

• Real-time sepsis alert system that triggers objective escalation protocol based on vitals and lab trends
• Communication tool that logs clinical concerns and escalation attempts for accountability

SepsisAlert MD

Real-time sepsis surveillance and escalation app that integrates with hospital EHR and monitors vital signs trends. When a patient meets early sepsis criteria (e.g., tachycardia, hypotension, fever, elevated lactate), it alerts the charge nurse and attending physician, provides a structured handoff summary, and documents the clinical trajectory to justify an immediate transfer to ICU or step-down unit. Eliminates the need for nurses to manually argue for escalation.