Fluid Management May Improve Sepsis Outcomes
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body damages its own organs while trying to fight an infection; it’s an infection response out of control and its impact is vast.
Raising awareness and advancing patient care for sepsis remains critical. Ivor Douglas, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center, discusses how he is using the results of a recent clinical trial to help improve and personalize care for sepsis patients.
Results of the Fluid Response Evaluation in Sepsis Hypotension and Shock (FRESH) clinical trial showed that personalized intravenous (IV) fluid management decisions may help improve patient outcomes. The study's objective was to assess the mean difference in fluid balance at 72 hours or ICU discharge, whichever came first, and associated secondary patient outcomes. One of the outcomes assessed was how patients with septic shock were impacted when their clinician performed a dynamic assessment of fluid responsiveness before administering any fluid.
Dr. Douglas, primary investigator of the FRESH study, shares his perspective:
My strong sense is that the FRESH trial results will lead to future changes in usual resuscitation care for sepsis patients. The significant reductions in respiratory and renal organ failures were clinically meaningful. While continuing to research this approach, at my institution we have implemented routine dynamic fluid response measures from the very front door of the hospital to the emergency room (ER). We have trained our frontline providers in the ER and our sepsis response teams to quickly recognize organ failure hyperfusion related to sepsis and other causes and oversee dynamic fluid response-guided resuscitation. This helps optimize the early course of care, but more importantly, it creates a continuum of care into the intensive care unit (ICU) if a patient isn’t immediately stabilized.
Dr. Ivor Douglas, Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Denver Health Medical Center
Hear more about this topic from Dr. Douglas on Baxter's new Talking Fluids podcast focused on how fluid management can help support improved patient care.
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