Background: Increased Emergency Department (ED) boarding has been linked to worse patient outcomes, including delays in treatment (Jiraporn et al 2014), increased length of stay (Singer et al 2011), and increased mortality (Singer et al 2011; Sun et al 2013). Patients who meet time zero (T-0) for diagnosis with severe sepsis while boarding in the [...]

Background: Patients with undifferentiated but stable clinical presentations may manifest sepsis “time zero” (T-0) or the onset of sepsis-defining conditions while undergoing further evaluation in observation units (OUs). Since these units are often designed to facilitate diagnostic and clinical risk assessments, we hypothesize that patients experiencing T-0 while in OUs will likely experience similar or [...]