Bespoke e-Learning collaboration between escalla and The UK Sepsis Trust charity improves access to sepsis training and ensures fast and effective rollout of updated guidelines.
With at least 245,000 cases and up to 48,000 deaths in the UK every year, recognising and managing sepsis remains of critical importance across the public and private healthcare sector. The UK Sepsis Trust charity estimates that 1 in 2,800 to 1 in 5,000 episodes of awareness has potential to save a life. With an incidence of around 360 cases per 100,000 population per year, mortality of approximately 20%, and with patients presenting early being around half as likely to die than those presenting late, it is possible to surmise that better awareness could save thousands of lives a year.
However, Sepsis Awareness training has faced numerous challenges over recent years. Although, the Department of Health’s mandate to Health Education England (HEE) in March 2015 gave them a responsibility to ensure that training is available so that healthcare staff are competent in the recognition of, and response to, sepsis, there is still no requirement that this learning is mandatory. Despite this, The UK Sepsis Trust ran a successful Train-The-Trainer instructor-led programme prior to Covid that equipped sepsis leads in larger healthcare institutions to provide their own in-house courses. This training required regular updates as treatment and guidelines changed before needing to cease completely during the pandemic. At the same time, sepsis leads in hospitals and other healthcare facilities were unable to provide face-to-face sepsis courses due to similar restrictions.
Fortunately, in 2017, The UK Sepsis Trust had partnered with escalla and the Global Sepsis Alliance on a major project commissioned by the Ministry of Health in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This initiative improved the diagnosis and clinical management of sepsis through the delivery of a national learning programme to healthcare professionals, teaching about the dangers of sepsis and how to effectively deal with the condition at all stages. It included the development of e-Learning materials written by escalla and reviewed and verified by The UK Sepsis Trust.
Following this successful endeavour, the logical next step was for escalla to develop a suite of e-Learning modules for The UK Sepsis Trust to provide learning for individuals unable to access the sepsis training within their own healthcare organisation. Four modules were developed:
- Introduction to Sepsis – an awareness module designed for all clinicians, health workers and anyone interested in learning more about sepsis.
- Sepsis in Adults – a detailed module covering the recognition and treatment of sepsis for all clinicians and health workers working with adults.
- Sepsis in Children – a detailed module covering the recognition and treatment of sepsis for all clinicians and health workers working with children.
- Sepsis: A Care Worker’s Guide – a detailed module focusing on the identification of sepsis within a care or community setting and the correct actions to take.
In 2018, these modules were available to learners on an individual basis through registration on The UK Sepsis Trust website and yearly uptake peaked at approximately 7,000 users. However, once the pandemic limited in-person training, hospitals and other healthcare organisations began seeking e-Learning solutions instead. With Covid-19 being a possible cause of sepsis, sepsis leads and clinical education directors were keen to source up-to-date e-Learning. The UK Sepsis Trust immediately collaborated with escalla to update the existing modules to reflect the known information relating to the pandemic and in the autumn of 2020, escalla began liaising with healthcare organisations to provide modules on a yearly rental basis to be hosted on their own Learning Management Systems.
