• The Surviving Sepsis Campaign recently republished the 2018 update to their guidelines, namely, the recommendation that physicians initiate treatment measures using a "1-Hour Bundle" rather than the 3 and 6-hour bundles previously recommended:

• Also included was the level of evidence for each bundle component. There was no additional evidence provided to support the within-one-hour recommendation. 

• There has been no well-designed, randomized trial to demonstrate benefits to administration of the various bundle components at specific time points. There are observational studies that show benefits to early protocolized therapy, including a restrospective study by Seymour et al. that showed benefits to earlier administration of antibiotics (but notably, not IV fluid administration), primarily in patients with septic shock requiring pressors.²

• There have been a variety of studies demonstrating harm with unecessary IV fluid administration,^3-5 and inappropriate antibiotic use puts patients at risk for C.difficile colitis, drug reactions, and promotes drug-resistant organisms. Studies to date do not examine adverse events in patients initially treated for sepsis who do not end up being septic.

Take Home Points: 

1. Early recognition of sepsis is crucial to initiating necessary therapies and improving outcomes.
2. Patients with sepsis and septic shock benefit from early appropriate antibiotics, source control, and appropriate resuscitation.
3. Empiric treatment of all-comers with possible sepsis with broad spectrum antibiotics and 30ml/kg of IV fluids, in order to meet a 1-hour deadline, has definite potential for harm. 

References

1. Levy MM, Evans LE, Rhodes A. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign Bundle: 2018 Update. Crit Care Med. 2018;46(6):997-1000.
2. Seymour CW, Gesten F, Prescott H et al. Time to treatment and mortality during mandated emergency care for sepsis. N Engl J Med. 2017;376(23):2235-2244.
3. Boyd JH, Forbes J, Nakada TA, Walley KR, Russell JA. Fluid resuscitation in septic shock: a positive fluid balance and elevated central venous pressure are associated with increased mortality. Crit Care Med. 2011;39(2):259-265.
4. Sadaka F, Juarez M, Naydenov S, O’Brien J. Fluid resuscitation in septic shock: the effect of increasing fluid balance on mortality. J Intensive Care Med. 2014;29(4):213-217.
5. Andrews B, Semler MW, Muchemwa L, et al. Effect of an Early Resuscitation Protocol on In-hospital Mortality Among Adults With Sepsis and Hypotension: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2017;318(13):1233-1240.

For additional reading:

EMNerd, Dr. Rory Spiegel https://emcrit.org/emnerd/em-nerd-case-temporal-fallacy/

Surviving Sepsis Campaign http://www.survivingsepsis.org/Guidelines/Pages/default.aspx