Did you know that if you exercise while you have a fever, you probably meet SIRS criteria? The new Phoenix sepsis scoring systems aims to better categorize sepsis through specific categories based on the patient’s vitals, labs, and medications. Learn with us as we walk through this new scoring system in today’s episode. 

This episode was written by Dr. Lidia Park and Dr. Tammy Yau with content support from Dr. Alexis Toney. Drs. Lidia and Tammy take full responsibility for any errors or misinformation. 



Key Points:  

• The Phoenix sepsis score is based out of 13 points. 2 or more points meets sepsis criteria. The score is based on 4 categories: respiratory, cardiovascular, coagulation, and neurologic. 

• The Phoenix sepsis score is better at predicting mortality than SIRS criteria but does not predict morbidity 

Sources: 

• JAMA 2024, Schlapbach,“International Consensus Criteria for Pediatric Sepsis and Septic Shock”: doi: 10.1001/jama.2024.0179. 

• Hospital Pediatrics 2023, Kusma, “Effect of Viral Illness on Procalcitonin as a Predictor of Bacterial Infection in Febrile Infants”: doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2022-007070