News Release

Surviving sepsis program -- increased compliance gets results

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMC (BioMed Central)

A 'surviving sepsis' in-hospital project has been shown to improve the care of patients with sepsis. The educational program for early management of patients with septic shock, described in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care, increased compliance with sepsis guidelines and led to a 45% risk reduction for in-hospital death.

Massimo Girardis led a team of researchers from the University Hospital of Modena who carried out the study. He said, "The application of evidence-based guidelines for the management of patients with severe sepsis/septic shock is still unsatisfactory. We've shown that, coupled with increased education, the institution of a specific sepsis team seems to be a key point for providing the adequate management of in-hospital patients".

The researchers tested the effects of an educational program on sepsis for physicians and nurses of all hospital departments and implementation of a specific protocol for recognition and management of patients with severe sepsis/septic shock including an early consultation by a skilled 'sepsis team'. They found that compliance with guidelines was significantly increased and that there was an improvement in outcome in intensive care unit patients. The authors report that this is the first time such an improvement has been demonstrated in this setting.

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Notes to Editors:

1. Effects on management and outcome of severe sepsis and septic shock patients admitted to the intensive care unit after implementation of a sepsis program: a pilot study
Massimo Girardis, Laura Rinaldi, Lara Donno, Marco Marietta, Mauro Codeluppi, Patrizia Marchegiano, Claudia Venturelli and Soppravvivere alla Sepsi Group Modena University Hospital
Critical Care (in press)

During embargo, article available here: http://ccforum.com/imedia/8678561802234196_article.pdf?random=852503

After the embargo, article available at journal website: http://ccforum.com/

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication

2. Critical Care is a high quality, peer-reviewed, international clinical medical journal. Critical Care aims to improve the care of critically ill patients by acquiring, discussing, distributing, and promoting evidence-based information relevant to intensivists. The journal is edited by Prof Jean-Louis Vincent (Belgium) and has an Impact Factor of 4.55

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.


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