International Journal of Medical Discoveries

Sepsis remains a leading cause of hospital mortality worldwide, affecting approximately 48.9 million individuals annually. Early detection by nurse practitioners is crucial, yet variability in clinical judgment poses a significant threat to patient survival outcomes in acute care. The study aimed to examine the factors influencing clinical decision-making variability among nurse practitioners in early sepsis detection and management. A systematic literature review was conducted using PICO and SPIDER frameworks to analyze 40 core references from acute care settings. Data analysis followed a thematic approach to identify clinical, organizational, and individual drivers of decision variability. Findings indicated that each additional patient assigned to a nurse practitioner increased the risk of missed sepsis bundle tasks by 10%. Organizational constraints and clinical ambiguity led to adherence rates for international sepsis guidelines fluctuating between 45% and 82%. Automated clinical decision support systems were shown to improve early detection accuracy by 15% to 20% compared to manual assessment alone. Standardizing nurse practitioner reasoning through objective tools is essential to minimize the subjective variability currently observed in acute care settings.