MANHASSET, N.Y., April 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Martin E. Doerfler, MD, Northwell Health senior
vice president of clinical strategy and development, has
collaborated with investigators from the Icahn School of Medicine
at Mount Sinai and the Donald and
Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell on a new study assessing the
differences between hospital-presenting sepsis (HPS) and emergency
department-presenting sepsis (EDPS), which, according to the
researchers are historically not well delineated in both settings.
The findings first appeared on April
8 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, the official
peer-reviewed journal of the Society of Hospital Medicine.
![Martin E. Doerfler, MD, Northwell Health senior vice president of clinical strategy, associate chief medical officer, and member of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Martin E. Doerfler, MD, Northwell Health senior vice president of clinical strategy, associate chief medical officer, and member of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/876743/Doerfler_Martin_fs.jpg)
Sepsis is a body-wide immune system reaction to an infection
that is responsible for more than 300,000 deaths in the United States each year and leaves many
survivors profoundly disabled. The sepsis condition can lead to
widespread inflammation and may result in organ dysfunction or
failure. It is the most common cause of death in hospitals across
the country and carries a significant financial burden. Dr.
Doerfler and his co-researchers aimed to quantify the prevalence of
Sepsis in both hospital and emergency room settings, compare their
characteristics, process, and estimate the differences in risk as
it pertains to patient outcomes.
"In an effort to continue finding solutions that curtail the
concerning numbers of fatalities as a result of sepsis, we set out
to explore how this condition manifests itself both in the
in-patient and emergency room locales, and the various challenges
associated with recognition, treatment and monitoring," said Dr.
Doerfler, who is a member of The Feinstein Institute for Medical
Research and is Northwell's associate chief medical officer. "As
clinicians, we need to better to understand this knowledge gap so
that we can correct the origins of the disparities."
The group of researchers studied nine hospitals from October,
2014 to March, 2016, which included 11,182 hospitalized patients
with sepsis or septic shock, and assessed overall HPS versus EDPS
outcomes. The group concluded that hospital-presenting sepsis
differed from emergency department-presenting sepsis by admission
source, comorbidities, and clinical presentation. Based on the
findings, the investigators argue that cases stemming from the
inpatient setting accounted for adverse patient outcomes
disproportionately to prevalence, with patients posing more complex
scenarios and receiving timely antibiotics half as often as those
presenting sepsis in emergency rooms. The study concluded that EDPS
had nearly twice the mortality odds with resuscitation disparities
explaining 25 percent of the difference.
"Dr. Doerfler and his colleagues shine much needed new light on
sepsis occurring in hospitalized patients," said Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president and CEO of the
Feinstein Institute. "Because minutes matter to save lives, these
findings raise the bar to increase awareness of possible sepsis
cases appearing in hospital wards, not just the ER."
Dr. Doerfler collaborated with Daniel E.
Leisman, BS, corresponding author, and Catalina Angel, MPA, from the Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai, and
Sandra M. Schneider, MD, Jason A.
D'Amore, MD, and John K. D'Angelo,
MD from the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at
Hofstra/Northwell.
Identifying ways to combat sepsis is a major research priority
for the Feinstein Institute and Northwell. Led by Dr. Doerfler, a
Sepsis Task Force was created to help shorten the diagnosis time,
which is a crucial element to preventing loss of life. The Task
Force reviewed previous cases to identify the key signs for sepsis
and identified a protocol that includes early administration of
fluids and antibiotics to implement across Northwell's hospitals.
As a result, sepsis-related mortalities were reduced by almost 70
percent.
In December 2018, Feinstein
Institute assistant professor Monowar
Aziz, PhD received a five-year, $1.68
million grant from the National Institutes of Health to
examine a protein's role in increasing inflammation and injury
in sepsis to develop new therapies, and in February, Steven Gurien, MD, a Northwell Health surgical
resident and member of the Feinstein Institute, was honored by the
Society of Critical Care Medicine for his efforts to pinpoint
specific molecules that can reduce inflammation during sepsis.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York
State's largest health care provider and private employer,
with 23 hospitals, nearly 700 outpatient facilities and more than
13,600 affiliated physicians. We care for
over two million people annually in the
New York metro area and beyond,
thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 68,000
employees – 16,000-plus nurses and 4,000 employed doctors,
including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are
working to change health care for the better. We're making
breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institute for Medical
Research. We're training the next generation of medical
professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker
School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and
Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100
medical specialties,
visit Northwell.edu.
About the Feinstein Institute
The
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is the research arm of
Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York. Home to 50 research laboratories and
to clinical research throughout dozens of hospitals and outpatient
facilities, the Feinstein Institute includes 4,000
researchers and staff who are making breakthroughs in
molecular medicine, genetics, oncology, brain research, mental
health, autoimmunity, and bioelectronic medicine – a new field of
science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. For more
information about how we empower imagination and pioneer discovery,
visit FeinsteinInstitute.org.
Contact:
|
David
Robbins
|
|
516-465-8325
|
|
drobbins2@northwell.edu
|
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-data-on-sepsis-outcomes-in-hospitals-shows-how-fatalities-can-be-reduced-300837612.html
SOURCE The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research