Thursday, January 20, 2011

Help on sepsis

Dr. Jim O'Brien, Assistant Director, Medical Intensive Care Unit at the Center for Critical Care at Ohio State University Medical Center, writes with this news and a request:

I sit on the Board of Sepsis Alliance. Our data suggests that only 1 in 3 Americans has heard the word “sepsis” and because of a lack of an organized approach to sepsis care – that is, care consistent with the Global Sepsis Alliance proclamation at the Merinoff Symposium (“recognize sepsis as a medical emergency requiring the administration of fluids and antibiotics within one hour of suspicion”) -- as many as 50% of septic patients die needlessly. That is approximately 100,000 deaths/year in the US alone.

If you have a chance, check out our website and the video we created. We would love any thoughts/ideas you have. This is a disease whose natural history could be changed within the next five years – with therapies we already have.

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