Washington, DC – November 19, 2010 The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) announces a webinar, Sepsis and the Clinical Lab: Taking a Team Approach for Improved Outcomes, to be held January 12, 2011, at 2:00pm Eastern. The webinar will last 90 minutes.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., but for patients undergoing general surgery, sepsis infections present a greater threat. After examining the outcomes of more than 360,000 general surgery patients, researchers in Houston, TX, discovered that mortality rates for sepsis and septic shock exceeded those of myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism nearly 10-fold. As the number of Americans over 60 grows, the incidence of sepsis is also expected to grow exponentially, making it a problem that hospitals must address. Recognizing this, several physician groups, including The Society of Critical Care Medicine, launched the Surviving Sepsis Campaign almost 10 years ago. The goal was to reduce sepsis-related mortality by encouraging hospitals to use treatment protocols that include the use of steroids, laboratory testing and various therapies in a treatment plan. Using these protocols, Intermountain Healthcare (IHC) of Salt Lake City, UT, cut sepsis-related deaths by almost 50% over four years.
The expert panel for this webinar includes Todd L. Allen, MD, FACEP, Attending Physician and Director of Research in the Emergency Department at Intermountain Medical Center, and Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Emergency Medicine at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He will explain how IHC achieved their 50% reduction and the laboratory’s role in achieving this. The panel also features Brad S. Karon, MD, PhD, FACB, Director of Point-of-Care Testing and Hospital Clinical Laboratories and an Associate Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. A point-of-care testing expert, Dr. Karon will discuss some of the controversies related to testing sepsis patients including whether it is better to use point-of-care assays or traditional lab assays. Finally, both will weigh in on procalcitonin, explaining why this emerging test for sepsis has not yet been incorporated into protocols used at either IHC or the Mayo Clinic. The webinar will be moderated by James D. Faix, MD, Associate Professor of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Treating hospital-acquired sepsis costs the U.S. health system some $8Bn annually, and the mortality rate of those acquiring it in hospital is nearly 20%. AACC invites journalists reporting on this major health issue to attend the webinar at no cost. To register, complete and submit a Press Registration Form. For more information about this webinar or AACC, contact Peter Patterson on either of the above phone numbers or at ppatterson@aacc.org.