New survey shows low adherence to guidelines in sepsis care puts patients at risk

Marcy l’Étoile, France and London, UK –  To mark Sepsis Awareness Month, bioMérieux, a world leader in in vitro diagnostics with a long-standing commitment to the fight against sepsis, and the UK Sepsis Trust, an internationally renowned charity, have released new survey data of health professionals to assess their knowledge and practice in the management of sepsis. This survey was commissioned among 368 doctors across six European countries.

Key highlights include:

• While awareness of sepsis, and how serious it is, is high amongst surveyed doctors, adherence to guidelines for timely and appropriate sepsis treatment remains low, leaving patients at significant risk.
• More than half of surveyed doctors admit that some cases of sepsis are missed in their hospitals.
• High patient caseload, staff shortages, insufficient training and lack of familiarity with the steps of the guidelines are identified as the main barriers to adhering to the stages outlined in the Sepsis Bundles.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition in which the body’s response to infection causes organ damage. Globally, sepsis is now recognized to claim more lives than cancer^1,2. Every year in Europe, more than 3.4 million people develop sepsis and 700,000 of them do not survive³.

Early recognition and rapid diagnosis are essential for early patient management. Any delay in starting appropriate treatment is associated with increased mortality. A set of evidence-based clinical practices, known as Sepsis Bundles, have been defined internationally⁴. The routine implementation of these bundles by clinicians can greatly improve outcomes for patients with sepsis⁵.

Dr Ron Daniels, world leading sepsis expert and Chief Executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, commented: "This important research highlights that there remains huge variation between countries in properly implementing internationally supported standards of diagnosis and treatment of sepsis. The stark reality is that there is much more to be done to ensure timely and effective management of Sepsis. As healthcare systems continue to grapple with issues such as staff shortages and evolving patient needs, urgent action must be taken to ensure that there is consistent training on sepsis care to improve patient care and outcomes. Given the high mortality rate of sepsis across Europe, it is clear that governments, policymakers, commissioning bodies and professionals need to urgently address these barriers."

REFERENCES

¹ Rudd, K. et al. Global, regional, and national Sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990-2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet. 2020; 295: 200-11.

² World Health Organisation. Cancer. Available at: https://www.who.int/health-topics/cancer#tab=tab_1. Last accessed: July 2022.

³ European Sepsis Alliance. What is Sepsis? – Definition of Sepsis. Available at: https://www.europeanSepsisalliance.org/Sepsis#:~:text=Impact%20in%20Europe,%2C%20mental%2C%20and%20cognitive%20problems. Last accessed: July 2022.

⁴ Evans L, et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021. Intensive Care Med. 2021 Nov;47(11):1181-1247.

⁵ Milano PK, Desai SA, Eiting EA, Hofmann EF, Lam CN, Menchine M. Sepsis Bundle Adherence Is Associated with Improved Survival in Severe Sepsis or Septic Shock. West J Emerg Med. 2018 Sep;19(5):774-781. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2018.7.37651. Epub 2018 Aug 13. PMID: 30202487; PMCID: PMC6123087.