The 2022 World Sepsis Congress Spotlight is just one week away, happening live, fully virtually, and free of charge on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 – have you signed up yet?

Over the course of 8 distinctive and highly relevant sessions, 39 speakers from all regions of the world will share the newest therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 and sepsis, covering all novel aspects of our understanding of bacterial and viral sepsis, from new methods of diagnosis and risk assessment to novel treatment modalities, and beyond.

Like our previous World Sepsis Congresses in 2016, 2018, and 2021 and WSC Spotlights in 2017 and 2020, this free online congress brings together highly ranked representatives of international and national healthcare authorities, non-governmental organizations, policymakers, patients, patient advocacy groups, clinical scientists, researchers, and pioneers in healthcare improvement.

The Washington State Hospital Association is looking forward to hosting the 10th annual Pacific Northwest Sepsis Conference on June 6-7, 2022 with both an in-person and virtual attendance option. Registration is now open here.

Speakers include local, national, and international sepsis experts. We will explore sepsis in different populations and in different healthcare settings. We will examine the updated international guidelines of care and the science behind these evidence-based recommendations. Additional sessions include why equity matters in sepsis care, the global burden of sepsis, phenotypes in sepsis, post-sepsis syndrome, case studies in sepsis, and resiliency for healthcare providers. Breakout sessions will use expert panels to offer an in-depth look at data, quality, and performance improvement in sepsis, cutting-edge clinical topics in sepsis care, pediatric sepsis as well as exploring novel therapies in sepsis.  Our audience will learn to be more effective team members and sepsis champions in their hospitals.

The Washington State Hospital Association and Pacific Northwest Sepsis Conference Planning Committee are committed to hosting a diverse and inclusive group of learners. They are offering a generous number of virtual attendance scholarships for international attendees from specific countries (list here) as well as traditional scholarships for learners practicing in other countries. Applications for the scholarship are available here. The application deadline is April 22, 2022, and applicants will be notified and given a code to register by April 28, 2022.  There is also an early-bird discount available until the end of April.

The website for full information on the conference is www.sepsisinseattle.com.

Executives and leaders in healthcare face countless daily challenges, from bolstering clinical insight and driving innovation to pursuing equity and improving the bottom line. Leaders in sepsis care face additional challenges specific to this complex, costly, and difficult-to-diagnose condition: sepsis is still the number one cost and cause of death in U.S. hospitals. There is a tremendous opportunity for improvement in sepsis awareness, innovation, and care —and it starts at the top.

The Sepsis Alliance Leadership Conference: Empowering Improvements in Care, presented T2 Biosystems and bioMérieux, is a free, virtual activity that will place a spotlight on the role healthcare executives and leadership can play in improving awareness, recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of sepsis. It will also offer attendees the opportunity to engage with sepsis leaders and subject matter experts from across the country, and to claim FREE nursing CE Credit.

Expert speakers include James Guliano (Vice President, Operations and Chief Clinical Officer, Ohio Hospital Association); Armando Nahum (Co-Founder & President, Safe Care Campaign); and David Mayer (Executive Director, MedStar Institute for Quality and Safety), among others.

A huge shout-out to our friends and colleagues in Croatia – we are excited to announce that our World Sepsis Day Infographics, the Sepsis Fact Sheet, the Pocket Cards for medical professionals, and the WSD Quiz are now available in Croatian. A huge thanks goes to Jelena Slijepčević and her team at the Croatian Society of Nurses in Anesthesiology, Reanimatology, Intensive Care and Transfusion for their help in the translation.

As always, the new materials are free and quick to download in our World Sepsis Day Toolkit Section – please download them and use them wherever you feel like it, on your social media channels, printed at events, and everywhere in between.

We put a lot of thought and time into these new materials – please contact us to give feedback so we can continue to improve them. Lastly, please consider donating to support the ongoing development of our free sepsis awareness resources – it could help save a loved one. Thank you so much.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the devastating global health and societal implications an infection can have when there are no preventative interventions or treatment options available. Many countries and most health systems worldwide still do not take a holistic approach to integrate policies and tools on infection management with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and sepsis, despite them being interconnected.

The GSA warmly welcomes the publication of this White Paper from the Infection Management Coalition (IMC), that intends to support the development of a roadmap, encourages further collaboration, and paves the way for a transformational approach to infection management across all facets of the NHS and broader society, by adopting a whole system approach. This coalition aims to nurture a patient-centered, holistic approach, allowing intelligence to be acquired, ensuring diagnostics are integrated seamlessly into clinical systems, driving the responsible use of antimicrobials, and better support survivors.

Through this holistic approach, the coalition envisages a future where outcomes are vastly improved and the rise of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is slowed.

About the IMC

The IMC was convened in January 2021 to drive change in support of holistic management and pandemic preparedness in response to the devastating impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on societies and economies globally. It comprises opinion leaders, policymakers, healthcare professionals and their societies, the wider scientific community, and industry. Its joint working ethos pools expertise to provide the know-how and information needed to support a more cohesive approach to infection management.

Saving civilian life must be a top priority, healthcare workers must be protected, health systems and facilities need to remain functional, safe, and accessible

The European Sepsis Alliance joins the call for peace in Ukraine, echoing calls by so many organizations and individuals around the world. We encourage our members and supporters to do whatever they can to help Ukrainian civilians and the Ukrainian healthcare system. 

War always causes a humanitarian and health emergency affecting civilians. Children, women, and the elderly are the most exposed to the risks linked to the disruption of safe healthcare and access to medicines. Displacement of swathes of the population from their homes (some with injuries or with underlying health conditions), the mass movement of people, crowding, loss of sanitation and loss of access to both preventative medicine and healthcare services increases the risk of infections and resultant sepsis in an environment which might lack the capacity to treat it – people with pre-existing conditions who are most at risk from infections and sepsis will likely not get the treatments they need. Already we hear that supplies of oxygen in Ukraine’s hospitals are critically low.

 A functioning healthcare system is a basic human right that must be protected, along with the safety and security of healthcare workers and facilities.

Many organizations (see the list below) are providing active support to the Ukrainian population. We encourage you and our members to support these organizations in the same manner as you support the European Sepsis Alliance and the Global Sepsis Alliance.

Additionally, the Ukrainian Ministry of Health is inviting foreign healthcare professionals to go and work in local hospitals. More details are available here.

This new crisis comes as the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already put all healthcare systems under pressure, continues. Ukrainian hospitals, doctors, nurses, civilians, and refugees desperately need our help.

List of organizations providing support:

• International Committee of the Red Cross

• Médecins Sans Frontières

• Save the Children

• UNICEF

Today, we are thrilled to officially announce the WSC Spotlight: Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Approaches for COVID-19 and Sepsis, taking place live, free of charge, and completely online on April 27, 2022.

Over the course of 8 distinctive and highly relevant sessions, 39 speakers from all regions of the world will share the newest therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for COVID-19 and sepsis, covering all novel aspects of our understanding of bacterial and viral sepsis, from new methods of diagnosis and risk assessment to novel treatment modalities, and beyond.

Like our previous World Sepsis Congresses in 2016, 2018, and 2021 and WSC Spotlights in 2017 and 2020, this free online congress brings together highly ranked representatives of international and national healthcare authorities, non-governmental organizations, policymakers, patients, patient advocacy groups, clinical scientists, researchers, and pioneers in healthcare improvement.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has released a new video series to raise awareness about sepsis (embedded above).

The ‘Spotlight on Sepsis’ video series was created as part of the National Sepsis Program.

Developed in partnership with The George Institute for Global Health and the Australian Sepsis Network, the series complements the National Sepsis Awareness Campaign toolkit resources.

The videos focus on the theme of the National Sepsis Awareness Campaign: “Could it be sepsis?” and aim to raise awareness and promote greater understanding about this serious condition among clinicians and the general public.

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About Sepsis

Sepsis is the common final pathway of all acute infections. It arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. It may lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death, especially if not recognized early and treated promptly.