The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has highlighted sepsis (an infection of the blood) and identified several deficiencies which may lead to poor outcomes with patients with severe sepsis. The deficiencies include inconsistency in the early diagnosis of severe sepsis and septic shock, inadequate volume resuscitation, delayed use of antibiotics, and failure to control hyperglycemia adequately.
To address these deficiencies, the Surviving Sepsis Campaign and IHI have revised and added to the Surviving Sepsis Guidelines and created 2 sepsis treatment bundles (resuscitation and management) to guide therapy for patients with severe sepsis.