World Sepsis Day 2026: Beware The Great Impostor

Hesham A. Hassaballa: This is Healthcare Musings. I'm your host, Dr. Hashem Hasabala. Welcome to Healthcare Musings everybody. Happy to have you with me. Yesterday, September thirteenth, was World Sepsis Day. And I've had a lot of things on this podcast about sepsis, diagnosing sepsis. Is sepsis a real thing? I I had that conversation, talked about di documenting sepsis, how to how to, you know make sure that your CEP1 bundle compliance is good. I mean we talked a lot about sepsis on the podcast. it's because sepsis is a very dangerous condition. I mean I I I with all due respect to the to the guests I've had on the podcast, sepsis is a thing. I mean you it it's the number one diagnosis in the ICU that we see. It is potentially very deadly. and It's a huge burden worldwide. That's why there's a whole world sepsis day about it. And not only that, it is, and this is the point of this podcast episode, it is the great imposter. I'm I'm telling you, people do not come into the emergency department. And I'm gonna have a conversation with an emergency medicine physician, so I'm gonna ask him about this. people don't walk into the emergency department saying I'm septic. No. They come into the emergency department saying, I'm tired, I'm weak, I've been thrown up, I'm goofy, or they come in goofy. sometimes they have a fever, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they have a clear sign of infection, sometimes they don't, right? And then quickly they deteriorate. In the hospital, it can be even worse, where sepsis can be creeping up on you and before you know it. you're in multi-organ failure. I mean I I remember a patient who presented to the hospital with rapid atrial fibrillation that ended up being septic and ended up dying, unfortunately. Not not out of fault of anyone. No one did anything wrong. it's just it's just it can it's it's that deadly. And so you know the the beware the great imposter you know on on in commemorating world sepsis day in 2026 Beware the great imposter. Sepsis can look like a lot of things. And so we as physicians, whether we're emergency medicine physicians, hospital medicine physicians, critical care medicine physicians, We have to be thinking about sepsis all the time. We have to be vigilant about sepsis all the time. Otherwise, it is liable to sneak up on you and snatch your patient from you before you know it. So beware the great imposter. We have to be vigilant. It's it's one of the top things when I discuss and lecture residents and medical students about sepsis is that you have to have a very high index of suspicion. all the time. Otherwise it can go wrong, very wrong, very fast. And so, i it's just very important to always remember that and beware the great imposter that th that is sepsis. And you know what? Not only as an intensivist do I see sepsis firsthand, as a father, I saw what sepsis did to my oldest daughter. She died of gram-negative septic shock more than 17 years ago. she was immunocompromised from chemotherapy for lymphoma and she had a wimpy E. coli going to the blood. And in twenty-four hours, man, she was dead. So you know, I s I saw it. I see what sepsis can do. and so we always have to be thinking about it and we always have to be vigilant. and it'll be very interesting to get the the the the perspective of the my emergency medicine colleague about what what what he sees when he sees septic patients in the in the hospital or in the emergency department. but as we commemorate you know September is also Sepsis Awareness Month. And so there's you know, people are talking about sepsis and how to care for it and this year the guidelines came out for the Society of Critical Care Medicine. it's important to know how to take care of sepsis. It's important to to to to do the right thing and provide the right care at the right time for patients with sepsis and septic shock and but number one Is that we gotta always be thinking about it because sepsis is the great imposter. So thanks everybody for your time and attention, and we'll see you next time on Healthcare Musings. Thanks for listening. Healthcare Musings is a production of FaithfulWord Media. Sign up at drhasabala.com to get every episode delivered directly to your inbox. And please don't forget to give the show a five-star review. Thanks so much.