High-Tech Mobile Lab Trains Medical Staff To Spot Sepsis

DENVER (CBS4) - Health officials looking to cut down the incidence of sepsis in Colorado are hoping a mobile lab will teach medical staff how to catch and treat it.

As part of the program, a high-tech mannequin helps health care workers identify and treat sepsis --  also known as blood poisoning -- before it kills.

In the lab, the talking mannequin alerts doctors and staff to its symptoms -- "I'm feeling hot, weak and achy all over," it says. Doctors can interact with the mannequin. The program, called "Suspect sepsis. Save lives."

Each year, sepsis kills 3,000 people in Colorado and more than 258,000 nationwide. Its symptoms are very similar to the flu.

September is Sepsis Awareness Month.

Patients with sepsis must receive antibiotics and fluids through IVs as quickly as possible. Immediate treatment could cut the number of deaths in half.

After Pamela Popp, a health care attorney, had routine surgery, she suffered a seizure and contracted sepsis.

"Basically my body just started not functioning. All of my organs started shutting down," Popp said.

Sepsis wasn't immediately diagnosed. She spent a week on a ventilator and a month in the hospital. She says the powerful treatment that kept her alive led to her contracting lupus.

"So you think you've survived the worst and come to find out it's going be a long road," Popp said.