Sepsis alert system aims to speed up critical care response in hospitals
NCT ID NCT07804251
First seen Sep 04, 2026 · Last updated Sep 04, 2026
Summary
This trial tests whether an automated alert, triggered when a patient's sepsis risk score rises, can speed up critical care and improve outcomes. When the alert fires, the bedside nurse can activate a critical care team, and if no response occurs, the team is paged automatically. The study compares this alert-and-response pathway to usual care for adult patients on general wards. The main goal is to see if patients have better health status five days after the alert, such as being discharged or not needing organ support.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- An automated sepsis alert that triggers a structured critical care team response, including automatic lab orders and paging if the nurse does not respond.
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could lead to earlier treatment for hospital-onset sepsis, potentially reducing deaths and ICU stays, and could become a standard tool in hospitals.
- What could go wrong
- The trial is large but tests a complex intervention in real-world settings, so results may vary. There is also a risk of alert fatigue or unnecessary antibiotic use.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 3,700 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Oct 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Dec 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 years or older * Admitted to a participating study unit at the time of the qualifying event. Participating units are non-cancer medicine wards (hospitalist, resident, and family medicine), general surgery. * Sepsis prediction score computed by the electronic health record crosses the pre-specified study threshold at any point during the admission Exclusion Criteria: * Comfort-focused or hospice goals of care documented at the time of threshold crossing. Do-not-resuscitate or do-not-intubate status alone is not an exclusion; participants with these orders are eligible, and the responding team tailors its response to documented goals of care * Already receiving intensive-care-level treatment while boarding on a ward unit at the time of threshold crossing * Pre-existing order declining rapid response team activation (expected to be exceedingly rare) Participants are identified automatically by the electronic health record at the time of threshold crossing. There is no active recruitment, no study visit, and no contact between participants and the study team. Eligibility is evaluated by rule from electronic health record data, identically in both arms.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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OHSU Hospital
Portland, Oregon, 97239, United States
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- A randomized clinical trial of early empiric Anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis therapy for sepsis in Sub-Saharan africa
- Tracing of real-time glu13Cose metabolism in human immune cells - intensive care unit
- Can a battery keep ventilators running during ambulance transport?
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