TY - JOUR T1 - Identification and treatment of paediatric sepsis: getting the balance right JF - Archives of Disease in Childhood JO - Arch Dis Child SP - 1185 LP - 1186 DO - 10.1136/archdischild-2018-314865 VL - 103 IS - 12 AU - Michael J Carter AU - Philippa Anna Stilwell AU - Ruud Gerard Nijman AU - Sarah Eisen Y1 - 2018/12/01 UR - http://adc.bmj.com/content/103/12/1185.abstract N2 - Recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on sepsis1 defines clinical criteria to guide the management of a child presenting with suspected infection (table 1). In children with suspected infection, presence of a ‘high-risk’ criterion should lead to intravenous access, parenteral antibiotic administration and consideration of intravenous fluid boluses, unless a senior decision-making doctor (DMD; defined as a Specialist Trainee (ST) 4 paediatrician, or ST4 emergency physician for older children) makes an alternative diagnosis.View this table:In this windowIn a new windowTable 1 Summarised criteria for stratifying risk of severe illness or death from sepsis in children <12 years of age1 Since clinical screening criteria for sepsis are non-specific,2 many children without sepsis may receive antibiotic treatment for each case of true sepsis. NICE guidance might unintentionally exacerbate this, diverting … ER -