• Pierluigi Viale, Sara Tedeschi, Luigia Scudeller, Luciano Attard, Lorenzo Badia, Michele Bartoletti, Alessandra Cascavilla, Francesco Cristini, Nicola Dentale, Giovanni Fasulo, Giorgio Legnani, Filippo Trapani, Fabio Tumietto, Gabriella Verucchi, Giulio Virgili, Andrea Berlingeri, Simone Ambretti, Chiara De Molo, Mara Brizi, Mario Cavazza, and Maddalena Giannella.
• Infectious Diseases Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Hospital S. Orsola-Malpighi, University of Bologna.
• Clin. Infect. Dis. 2017 Oct 15; 65 (8): 1253-1259.

BackgroundThe impact on patient survival of an infectious disease (ID) team dedicated to the early management of severe sepsis/septic shock (SS/SS) in Emergency Department (ED) has yet to be assessed.MethodsA quasiexperimental pre-post study was performed at the general ED of our hospital. During the pre phase (June 2013-July 2014), all consecutive adult patients with SS/SS were managed according to the standard of care, data were prospectively collected. During the post phase (August 2014-October 2015), patients were managed in collaboration with a dedicated ID team performing a bedside patient evaluation within 1 hour of ED arrival.ResultsOverall, 382 patients were included, 195 in the pre phase and 187 in the post phase. Median age was 82 years (interquartile range, 70-88). The most common infection sources were lung (43%) and urinary tract (17%); in 22% of cases, infection source remained unknown. During the post phase, overall compliance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) bundle and appropriateness of initial antibiotic therapy improved from 4.6% to 32% (P < .001) and from 30% to 79% (P < .001), respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that predictors of all-cause 14-day mortality were quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment ≥2 (hazard ratio [HR], 1.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15-2.45; P = .007), serum lactate ≥2 mmol/L (HR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.39-3.25; P < .001), and unknown infection source (HR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.42-3.02; P < .001); being attended during the post phase was a protective factor (HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43-0.94; P = .026).ConclusionImplementation of an ID team for the early management of SS/SS in the ED improved the adherence to SSC recommendations and patient survival.© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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