The Utility of C-Reactive Protein in the Diagnosis and Initial Management of Suspected Sepsis in the Emergency Department of a Tertiary Care Centre in North QLD: a Retrospective Cohort Study.

This study aims to investigate whether a CRP result on admission to the emergency department, taken alongside a blood culture, is effective in defining a diagnosis of sepsis and subsequently whether it is of any clinical value in the initial management of a suspected septic patient. This will be achieved by retrospectively analysing the charts of adult patients with suspected sepsis who present to the Townsville University Hospital Emergency Department between July 1st 2020 and June 30th 2021. The primary outcome will be the CRP result in those with blood culture positive and blood culture negative sepsis. The secondary outcomes involve comparing the initial CRP result to the patient's initial vital signs, admissions to ward or ICU, antibiotic initiation and duration and length of stay in ED/ ICU/ hospital. Statistical analysis using SPSS will then be conducted to draw conclusions. The expected benefit of this project is that it may potentially influence the clinical management of septic patients in the emergency department and inform pathology stewardship.