The UK Sepsis Trust is pleased to announce that Sepsis Unplugged 2018 will take place from February 5th to 6th, 2018, at Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham. Sepsis Unplugged is a conference done a little differently. It leaves attitudes and egos at the door, brings together all healthcare professionals and patient groups as equals, and asks the questions that will shape better sepsis care.

Conferences like this are crucial: we must act decisively to save the thousands of lives sepsis claims every year – more than breast cancer, bowel cancer, prostate cancer and HIV/AIDS combined.

Registration is open so please book your place now and enjoy the early bird discount. Please note this discount will end after 24th November 2017.
 

Abstract Submission Deadline: 24th November 2017
Early Bird Price will end after 24th November 2017

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This unique conference will be of interest to the following healthcare professionals and those working within:

• Acute Medicine
• Emergency Medicine
• Critical Care
• General Medicine
• Obstetrics
• ACCS Trainees
• GPs
• Paramedics
• Urgent Care Specialists
• Infection Prevention

We want to reach out and encourage all medical, nursing and allied healthcare professionals to attend. This conference will also be of particular interest to chief executives, managers, patient bodies, and charities.

THE PROGRAMME

Traditional academic meetings have failed to reliably improve outcomes or engage the wider healthcare system. At Sepsis Unplugged 2018, a range of practical workshops, discussion panels and interactive sessions lead the way for a truly novel, inspiring experience. 

High profile speakers will provide a comprehensive and up-to-date review of Sepsis to include; the patient perspective, examining patient information, management of paediatric sepsis, maternal sepsis, and lots more.

The programme has been designed to appeal to a multidisciplinary audience, there really will be something for everyone. This is the forum for healthcare professionals to come together and improve sepsis outcomes.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

Abstract submissions are invited on ideas to help prevent sepsis which can be used in the future as case studies and leading light projects to inspire other healthcare professionals around the UK and beyond.  The deadline for submissions is Friday, 24th November 2017.

Abstracts are invited on the following topics:

• Education & Training
• Human Factors
• Looking to the Future
• Patient Safety
• Quality Improvement
• Other Sepsis Related Work

MORE INFO

Sepsis Unplugged 2018 Event Team
Email: events@fitwise.co.uk
Telephone: +44 1506 292 042
Registration

In the last week of October, Governor Cuomo of New York State signed a new education law into effect, ensuring that all children in New York State learn about sepsis in school.
This marks a huge step, as early recognition and awareness are essential in the global fight against sepsis and educating school children about the signs of sepsis will spread awareness and save lives. We hope this motivates other states and countries to follow this shining example from New York State.

Bill No. A06053A, also known as “Rory Staunton’s Law”, “...directs the commissioner of education to collaborate with the department of health and other health organizations to establish regulations for a sepsis awareness and prevention program for school districts, boards of cooperative educational services, and nonpublic schools.”

The Rory Staunton Foundation, which worked closely with Governor Cuomo's office to make this happen, was established after the tragic death of Rory Staunton, a young and healthy boy who died from sepsis in April 2012. His parents mission is to ensure that no other child or young adult dies of sepsis resulting from the lack of a speedy diagnosis and immediate medical treatment. The Rory Staunton Foundation also published a very interesting and informative short video on sepsis (embedded below), to help raise awareness for sepsis.

For more information, please visit the website of the Rory Staunton Foundation for Sepsis Prevention. 

The session 'Updates on Sepsis' from the WSC Spotlight: Maternal and Neonatal Sepsis is now available on demand on YouTube (embedded below) and as a Podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes Link).

This concludes the WSC Spotlight 2017; all talks and sessions are freely available on demand, easily accessible and free of charge. We are very interested to hear what you liked or disliked about this free online congress - please participate in this short survey to give us feedback - it takes about 3 minutes to complete. Thanks so much! 

If you enjoyed this free online congress, please donate to make the 2nd World Sepsis Congress possible in 2018.

The Pan American Health Organization is pleased to invite you to the free webinar “Appropriate Use of Antibiotics in Sepsis: Timely Action that Saves Lives” organized in the framework of the 2017 World Antibiotic Awareness Week.  Being the most serious form of infection, sepsis represents a vital indication of the responsible use of effective antimicrobials for human health and in the absence of appropriate and timely clinical management it would be almost universally fatal.   

The free webinar aims at increasing awareness and highlighting the importance on rapid administration of appropriate antibiotics in order to reduce deaths from sepsis in the Americas. Experts and a sepsis survivor will be presenting on the vital experience of surviving this condition as well as on the challenges for managing sepsis in Latin America and the Caribbean. Presenters will focus on how to access and timely make use of the appropriate antibiotics, including resistance patterns.

Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm (Washington DC Time)
Location: "Room C" PAHO Headquarters, Washington DC

Please click here to join the webinar live on November 14th.

The GSA will hold its next WSD Supporter Meeting on November 9th at the 13th World Congress of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Main topics will be a summary of this year’s main GSA activities, the World Health Assembly Sepsis Resolution and how to make the most of it, as well as a look back on the 6th World Sepsis Day and the WSC Spotlight: Maternal and Neonatal Sepsis, our joint free online congress with the WHO. 

• Thursday, November 9th, 2017
• 12:45 to 02:45 pm
• Meeting Room: OLX207 – Bora Bora I
• Snacks will be provided
• Preliminary Agenda can be downloaded here (PDF)

Participation is free of charge and open to everyone. If you want to attend, please write us a short email.

Please submit the picture and details from your WSD Event before October 31st, 2017, as we will be closing the submissions on this day, to start designing the poster.

Please fill out the form here and include a picture of your event to be featured on the poster.
Please note that you can only upload one picture per event. 

The poster will be completed by November, and we will make it available for download, as well as sent out printed copies.

Please let your colleagues and friends know, especially if you know they did an event for WSD.

As every year, the costs of creating the poster and shipping will be taken over by the Global Sepsis Alliance - please consider donating to support the 2017 WSD Event Poster.

The session on 'Neonatal Sepsis' from the WSC Spotlight: Maternal and Neonatal Sepsis is now available on demand on YouTube (embedded below) and as a Podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes Link). The next session will be 'Updates on Sepsis', released on Thursday, November 2nd, 2017. A full release schedule is available here (PDF). If you enjoyed this free online congress, please donate to make the 2nd World Sepsis Congress possible in 2018.

In April 2016, I had a life threatening and life changing experience as a result of an infection in my index finger. One week previously I had seen a physician who diagnosed a Cellulitis infection on my finger and prescribed an antibiotic to treat it. Unfortunately for me, this physician did not give me any information about what I should do if the antibiotic he prescribed was not successful in treating this infection. To make a long story short a week later I collapsed at home and was rushed to the hospital with a ruptured abdominal aneurysm and in septic shock. I survived an event with a higher than 90% fatality rate.

What had happened was that the infection I had, had seeded itself in my blood stream, creating and causing an aneurysm to rupture. When I was taken to the hospital I was essentially bleeding to death. Emergency vascular surgery, blood transfusions,  a week in a coma and 3 weeks in the ICU saved my life. I feel fortunate to be alive.

As part of my recovery and to help prevent problems of this type occurring for other people I have taken to writing about my experience. In particular I have written two articles which were published in the Toronto Globe and Mail Facts and Arguments Column.  These articles can be accessed by Googling my name and the Globe and Mail. As well I have complained to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba about the medical care I received from the aforementioned physician and two other physicians I saw in the week previous to my near death experience.

Unfortunately my story is all too typical of Sepsis survivors who have received deficient medical care leading up to a traumatic medical experience which in many cases could have been prevented with better patient/physician communication and medical care. Recently as a result of my complaint about the first physician I saw the College published the following note in its newsletter:

"The investigation Committee recently reviewed a case which highlighted the importance of providing good instruction for follow up. A patient with cellulitis of the hand was seen on a walk-in basis and provided with antibiotics. The next day he was seen by another physician who drained the abscess. Unfortunately the patient went on to develop sepsis and seeded a mycotic psuedoaneurysm resulting in an extended ICU admission. While this specific complication is rare, sepsis is a life threatening complication which requires rapid intervention, so physicians must be vigilant in providing follow-up instructions.
As with any acute illness, patients with infections should be informed of the anticipated course of recovery and what to do if their clinical course does not follow this trajectory. Patients who understand the anticipated time lines and the specific signs of deterioration are better able to seek appropriate reassessment in a timely fashion."

I went through a hell of an experience. But what I went through pales in comparison to what my family had to deal with. We are all still recovering from the PTSD symptons of this terrible experience. We need to do more to educate not only doctors but also the general public about Sepsis. The catastrophic consequences of infections can and often do kill people.

Mac Horsburgh, Sepsis Survivor
 

To prevent further stories like this, please help us raising awareness for sepsis by donating.

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The article above was written by Mac Horsburgh and is shared here with his explicit consent. The views in the article do not necessarily represent those of the Global Sepsis Alliance. They are not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The whole team here at the GSA and World Sepsis Day wishes to thank Mac for sharing his story and for fighting to raise awareness for sepsis.

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