shock (27). The specific components of performance improvement did not appear to be as important as the presence of a program that included sepsis screening and metrics.Sepsis screening tools are designed to promote early identification of sepsis and consist of manual methods or automated use of the electronic health record (EHR). There is wide variation in diagnostic accuracy of these tools with most having poor predictive values, although the use of some was associated with improvements in care processes (28)(29)(30)(31). A variety of clinical variables and tools are used for sepsis screening, such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria, vital signs, signs of infection, quick Sequential Organ Failure Score (qSOFA) or Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) criteria, National Early Warning Score (NEWS), or Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) (26,32). Machine learning may improve performance of screening tools, and in a meta-analysis of 42,623 patients from seven studies for predicting hospital acquired sepsis the pooled area under the receiving operating curve (SAUROC) (0.89; 95% CI, 0.86−0.92); sensitivity (81%; 95% CI, 80−81), and specificity (72%; 95% CI, 72−72) was higher for machine learning than the SAUROC for traditional screening tools such as SIRS (0.70), MEWS (0.50), and SOFA (0.78) (32).Screening tools may target patients in various locations, such as in-patient wards, emergency departments, or ICUs (28)(29)(30)32). A pooled analysis of three RCTs did not demonstrate a mortality benefit of active screening (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.51−1.58) (33-35). However, while there is wide variation in sensitivity and specificity of sepsis screening tools, they are an important component of identifying sepsis early for timely intervention.Standard operating procedures are a set of practices that specify a preferred response to specific clinical circumstances (36). Sepsis standard operating procedures, initially specified as Early Goal Directed Therapy have evolved to "usual care" which includes a standard approach with components of the sepsis bundle, early identification, lactate, cultures, antibiotics, and fluids (37). A large study examined the association between implementation of state-mandated sepsis protocols, compliance, and mortality. A retrospective cohort study of 1,012,410 sepsis admissions to 509 hospitals in the United States in a retrospective cohort examined mortality before (27 months) and after (30 months) implementation of New York state sepsis regulations, with a concurrent control population from four other states (38). In this comparative interrupted time series, mortality was lower in hospitals with higher compliance with achieving the sepsis bundles successfully.Lower resource countries may experience a different effect. A meta-analysis of two RCTs in Sub-Saharan Africa found higher mortality (RR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.00−1.58) with standard operating procedures compared with usual care, while it was decreased in one observational study (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]; 95% CI, 0.55...

Substantial agreement exists among a large cohort of international experts regarding many strong recommendations for the best care of patients with sepsis. Although a significant number of aspects of care have relatively weak support, evidence-based recommendations regarding the acute management of sepsis and septic shock are the foundation of improved outcomes for these critically ill patients with high mortality.

Critically ill emergency department patients with a >or=6-hr delay in intensive care unit transfer had increased hospital length of stay and higher intensive care unit and hospital mortality. This suggests the need to identify factors associated with delayed transfer as well as specific determinants of adverse outcomes.

ObjectiveThe Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC or “the Campaign”) developed guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock. A performance improvement initiative targeted changing clinical behavior (process improvement) via bundles based on key SSC guideline recommendations on process improvement and patient outcomes.Design and settingA multifaceted intervention to facilitate compliance with selected guideline recommendations in the ICU, ED, and wards of individual hospitals and regional hospital networks was implemented voluntarily in the US, Europe, and South America. Elements of the guidelines were “bundled” into two sets of targets to be completed within 6 h and within 24 h. An analysis was conducted on data submitted from January 2005 through March 2008.Main resultsData from 15,022 subjects at 165 sites were analyzed to determine the compliance with bundle targets and association with hospital mortality. Compliance with the entire resuscitation bundle increased linearly from 10.9% in the first site quarter to 31.3% by the end of 2 years (P < 0.0001). Compliance with the entire management bundle started at 18.4% in the first quarter and increased to 36.1% by the end of 2 years (P = 0.008). Compliance with all bundle elements increased significantly, except for inspiratory plateau pressure, which was high at baseline. Unadjusted hospital mortality decreased from 37 to 30.8% over 2 years (P = 0.001). The adjusted odds ratio for mortality improved the longer a site was in the Campaign, resulting in an adjusted absolute drop of 0.8% per quarter and 5.4% over 2 years (95% CI, 2.5–8.4%).ConclusionsThe Campaign was associated with sustained, continuous quality improvement in sepsis care. Although not necessarily cause and effect, a reduction in reported hospital mortality rates was associated with participation. The implications of this study may serve as an impetus for similar improvement efforts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00134-009-1738-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Objective: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC or ''the Campaign'') developed guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock. A performance improvement initiative targeted Intensive Care Med (2010) 36:222-231 DOI 10.1007/s00134-009-1738 ORIGINAL changing clinical behavior (process improvement) via bundles based on key SSC guideline recommendations on process improvement and patient outcomes. Design and setting: A multifaceted intervention to facilitate compliance with selected guideline recommendations in the ICU, ED, and wards of individual hospitals and regional hospital networks was implemented voluntarily in the US, Europe, and South America. Elements of the guidelines were ''bundled'' into two sets of targets to be completed within 6 h and within 24 h. An analysis was conducted on data submitted from January 2005 through March 2008. Main results: Data from 15,022 subjects at 165 sites were analyzed to determine the compliance with bundle targets and association with hospital mortality. Compliance with the entire resuscitation bundle increased linearly from 10.9% in the first site quarter to 31.3% by the end of 2 years (P \ 0.0001). Compliance with the entire management bundle started at 18.4% in the first quarter and increased to 36.1% by the end of 2 years (P = 0.008). Compliance with all bundle elements increased significantly, except for inspiratory plateau pressure, which was high at baseline. Unadjusted hospital mortality decreased from 37 to 30.8% over 2 years (P = 0.001). The adjusted odds ratio for mortality improved the longer a site was in the Campaign, resulting in an adjusted absolute drop of 0.8% per quarter and 5.4% over 2 years (95% CI, 2.5-8.4%). Conclusions: The Campaign was associated with sustained, continuous quality improvement in sepsis care. Although not necessarily cause and effect, a reduction in reported hospital mortality rates was associated with participation. The implications of this study may serve as an impetus for similar improvement efforts.

From this placebo-controlled study, inhaled NO appears to be well tolerated in the population of ARDS patients studied. With mechanical ventilation held constant, inhaled NO is associated with a significant improvement in oxygenation compared with placebo over the first 4 hrs of treatment. An improvement in oxygenation index was observed over the first 4 days. Larger phase III studies are needed to ascertain if these acute physiologic improvements can lead to altered clinical outcome.

T he Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) International Guidelines for the Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock provide guidance on the care of hospitalized adult patients with (or at risk for) sepsis, based on systematic summary and assessment of relevant literature. This executive summary reviews the history, scope, methodology, and major recommendations of the guidelines, focusing on aspects that are new or different compared with the 2016 guidelines that were published in 2017. Full description of the guidelines process and recommendations are provided in the complete guidelines document.

Background: The field of computer-assisted mapping of lung sounds is constantly evolving and several devices have been developed in this field. Objectives: Our objective was to evaluate a new computer-assisted lung sound imaging system, ‘vibration response imaging’ (VRI), that records and creates a dynamic image of breath sounds. We postulated that the VRI display format would qualitatively and quantitatively reveal breath sound distribution throughout the breathing cycle. Methods: Lung sounds were recorded from 5 healthy adults and 14 patients with various respiratory illnesses using VRI. The lung sounds were processed by the VRI software, which incorporates an algorithm to convert breath sounds in the frequency range of 150–250 Hz to a dynamic image and quantitative assessment of breath sound distribution. Results: Images and quantifications from recordings of the healthy adults showed distinct patterns for inspiration and expiration. Images and quantifications from the subjects with respiratory illness differed substantially from the images of the healthy subjects. Both healthy and pathological subjects presented some expected characteristics of breath sound distribution. Conclusions: The VRI device may provide a new perspective in acoustic imaging and quantification of breath sounds by adding aspects of time analysis and quantification of distribution to existing methods. Further studies will be required in order to establish reliability of repeated recordings and to validate the sensitivity of the system in detecting various lung pathologies.