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Letter
Impact of adopting a neonatal sepsis risk calculator in a diverse population in Birmingham, UK
  1. Rachel Yew1,
  2. Laura Macaskill1,
  3. Sebastian Brown2,
  4. Michael Dixie3,
  5. Daniel Dogar4,
  6. Elizabeth Checketts1,
  7. Pinki Surana1
  1. 1 Neonatal Unit, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
  2. 2 PRAM, Paediatric Research Across the Midlands, West Midlands, UK
  3. 3 Neonatal Unit, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
  4. 4 Neonatal Unit, Good Hope Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Rachel Yew, Neonatal Unit, Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK; rachelyew{at}nhs.net

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Background

Kaiser-Permanente Sepsis Risk Calculator (KP-SRC) has safely reduced antibiotic use in the management of early-onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) in the USA and has been endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.1 However, the updated UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance 2021 (NG195) is risk factor based. It does permit the use of KP-SRC, but only with prospective audit, due to reservations regarding its applicability and safety in the UK setting.2

A recent Welsh study demonstrated the effectiveness of KP-SRC; however, Birmingham has significant inherent population differences (higher socioeconomic deprivation, ethnic diversity, EONS incidence and perinatal mortality).3 We aimed to implement KP-SRC in our diverse high-risk population to evaluate its safety following our pre-implementation study.4

Methods

KP-SRC was applied to all babies born ≥34 weeks’ gestation, who would have received antibiotics as per the NICE guidance in three …

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Footnotes

  • Twitter @dr_rachelyew, @drlauramac

  • Contributors RY—data collection, data analysis, drafting and reviewing of the manuscript. LM—data analysis, drafting and reviewing of the manuscript. SB—drafting and reviewing of the manuscript. MD—data collection and reviewing of the manuscript. DD—data collection and reviewing of the manuscript. EC—data collection and reviewing of the manuscript. PS—study design, drafting and reviewing of the manuscript.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.