Kaiser Develops Newborn Sepsis Tool

Kaiser Permanente researchers have been able to aggregate large volumes of data to better evaluate the risk of sepsis in newborns.

As a result, the Oakland-based Kaiser has been able to create an online calculator to determine if a specific newborn with a fever is at risk for developing sepsis, a systemwide infection that can lead to total organ shutdown and death.

The calculator, which takes into account both maternal and infant temperatures, whether or not the infant has a certain type of streptococcal infection and other factors, was based on the medical records of some 800,000 newborns delivered at Kaiser facilities since 1993.

Prior to the development of the calculator, all newborns with a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher were automatically admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit as a precautionary – but costly – measure.

“That meant separating the mother and baby, starting an IV, and putting the infant on intravenous antibiotics,” said Michael Kuzniewicz, M.D., a scientist with Kaiser's research division.

The use of calculator has not only reduced the number of NICU days per hospital, but has helped place higher-risk births in Kaiser facilities with a high-level NICU and cut down on infections associated with placing central intravenous lines, officials said.