Sepsis

“When I was in training, sepsis was still a nebulous entity . . . forcing us to rely heavily on our clinical gestalt. We were taught to recognize a certain look – something ineffable yet unmistakable – that signaled a patient was septic or ‘toxic.’ Most of us deduced that the diagnosis required a convergence of signs and symptoms: dangerously low blood pressure, rapid breathing, and a near-comatose setup. Sometimes, it was enough if the senior resident thought a patient looked ‘like crap’” (Shahinpoor, 33).