Swiss Sepsis National Action Plan: A coordinated national action plan to stop sepsis-related preventable deaths and to improve the support of people affected by sepsis in Switzerland

Abstract

BackgroundSepsis is a devastating disease which causes yearly over 10 million deaths worldwide. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a resolution prompting member states to improve the prevention, recognition, and management of sepsis. The 2021 European Sepsis Report revealed that—contrary to other European countries—Switzerland had not yet actioned the sepsis resolution.MethodsA panel of experts convened at a policy workshop to address how to improve awareness, prevention, and treatment of sepsis in Switzerland. Goal of the workshop was to formulate a set of consensus recommendations toward creating a Swiss Sepsis National Action Plan (SSNAP). In a first part, stakeholders presented existing international sepsis quality improvement programs and national health programs relevant for sepsis. Thereafter, the participants were allocated into three working groups to identify opportunities, barriers, and solutions on (i) prevention and awareness, (ii) early detection and treatment, and (iii) support for sepsis survivors. Finally, the entire panel summarized the findings from the working groups and identified priorities and strategies for the SSNAP. All discussions during the workshop were transcribed into the present document. All workshop participants and key experts reviewed the document.ResultsThe panel formulated 14 recommendations to address sepsis in Switzerland. These focused on four domains, including (i) raising awareness in the community, (ii) improving healthcare workforce training on sepsis recognition and sepsis management; (iii) establishing standards for rapid detection, treatment and follow-up in sepsis patients across all age groups; and (iv) promoting sepsis research with particular focus on diagnostic and interventional trials.ConclusionThere is urgency to tackle sepsis. Switzerland has a unique opportunity to leverage from lessons learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic to address sepsis as the major infection-related threat to society. This report details consensus recommendations, the rationale thereof, and key discussion points made by the stakeholders on the workshop day. The report presents a coordinated national action plan to prevent, measure, and sustainably reduce the personal, financial and societal burden, death and disability arising from sepsis in Switzerland.

Strategies to prevent or reduce inequalities in specific avoidable causes of death for adults with intellectual disability: A systematic review

“…Six peer‐reviewed journal publications relating to the prevention of sepsis were identified for inclusion in this review. Two were cross‐sectional surveys about awareness and knowledge of sepsis in Germany (Eitze et al, 2018) and Canada (Parsons Leigh et al, 2022); one was a randomised‐controlled trial comparing text‐based and graphical information formats in sepsis prevention (Debbeler et al, 2022); one was a national action plan to stop sepsis‐related preventable deaths produced by an expert panel in Switzerland (Schlapbach et al, 2023); one was a ‘primer’—a review of evidence (Hotchkiss et al, 2016); and one was a literature review (Rudd et al, 2018).…”

“…Sepsis occurs as a reaction to an infection when the body's immune system overreacts and causes injury and damage to organs in the body that are distant from the site of infection (Hotchkiss et al, 2016). Concerned about the incidence of sepsis worldwide, in 2017, the World Health Organization asked member states to improve the prevention, recognition and management of sepsis (Schlapbach et al, 2023).…”

“…Prevention of sepsis is based on public awareness of sepsis, vaccination for at‐risk populations, such as for pneumococcal pneumonia in the elderly and meningococcal infections in adolescents and young adults, and compliance with evidence‐based measures shown to potentially prevent sepsis such as handwashing and good general hygiene, maintaining mobility, preserving nutritional status and adequately treating local wound infections (Hotchkiss et al, 2016; Schlapbach et al, 2023).…”

“…Information targeted at high‐risk groups was vitally important and text‐based formats for information about sepsis have been found to be better than graphical formats (Debbeler et al, 2022). Recommendations for consistent messages in national public information campaigns about sepsis have been made by Eitze et al (2018) and Schlapbach et al (2023), although the successes of such public campaigns may be difficult to prove (Parsons Leigh et al, 2022).…”