National sepsis awareness campaign benefits from UoN input

Parents and health staff across the UK are being urged to watch videos co-created by University of Northampton researchers to help identify and deal with potentially fatal childhood illnesses.

The videos form part of a national sepsis awareness campaign aimed at informing people about how to spot sepsis and how to care for a child with a fever.

More children die of preventable causes such as sepsis, in which the body’s immune system goes into over-drive following an infection, in the UK than elsewhere in Europe. Childhood infections are one of the main reasons children visit the GP and are admitted to hospital, yet some children still arrive too late.

Led by UoN Associate Professor in Children’s Nursing Sarah Neill and Professor Monica Lakhanpaul from University College London, the researchers work as part of a collaborative called ASK SNIFF (Acutely Sick Kids Safety Netting Interventions for Families).

Professor Neill said: “Parents and healthcare professionals find it difficult to identify signs of serious illness despite the abundance of information and advice out there about childhood illnesses. Our research, funded primarily by WellChild charity, tell us that the right information, with video footage of real children, makes it easier to understand what to look for. Using this knowledge we worked with our local parent panel, the South London Health Innovation Network and NHS England to create these new videos.”

“At ASK SNIFF, we have one simple aim: to make getting the right advice simpler and quicker. These videos, made in collaboration with parents and healthcare professionals, form part of this. We urge all parents to take a look and share them around.”

ASK SNIFF was created to research and collect information in collaboration with parents, health service organisations, other universities and charities across the UK about how to recognise and deal with such situations.

The team will use this data to create an online video library resource. An app for phone and tablet devices will follow.

For more information about ASK SNIFF.

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