Early Goal-Directed Therapy Can Save Lives (and Money)

EDs and ICUs should work together to implement this treatment for patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

Although early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) has been shown to improve outcomes in severe sepsis and septic shock, clinical implementation has been slow. Barriers such as cost, emergency department overcrowding, lack of training, and institutional resistance present significant challenges to use of EGDT. To assess the economic consequences of implementing EGDT, researchers conducted a decision analysis of three implementation strategies: ED-centric (all treatment administered in the ED), mobile intensive care unit (ICU) team (ED screens patients and then alerts the ICU team, which provides EGDT), and ICU-centric (EGDT administered in the ICU after ED transfer).

Estimates were derived using data from multiple sources, including the Henry Ford …

Reviewing Author

Tiffany M. Osborn, MD