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Clinical Trial Summary

Sepsis occurs when a serious infection - most commonly infection of the lungs, urinary system, or blood - leads to acute organ failure. It is a common, expensive, and frequently lethal condition. A growing body of evidence suggests that early recognition and treatment of sepsis can improve survival. Unfortunately, many patients with sepsis do not receive key therapies until physicians working in Emergency Departments have assessed them - often introducing marked delays. It is estimated that one-half of patients with sepsis are treated and transported to hospital by paramedics. This allows paramedics a unique opportunity to provide early treatment at the initial point of patient contact, thereby decreasing the time to treatment for these critically ill patients. This randomized controlled trial will evaluate whether prompt recognition followed by early antibiotics and/or intravenous fluids delivered by paramedics in the field leads to improved survival, compared to usual care, for patients who are transported to the hospital with sepsis.


Clinical Trial Description

The ultimate goal of this research program is to evaluate a fundamental change in the delivery of sepsis care. Currently, patients with severe sepsis do not receive key evidence-based therapies until they have been assessed in emergency departments - often introducing considerable delays. This research tests whether integrating paramedics directly into a chain-of-survival for sepsis will improve outcomes for these critically ill patients. In essence, this research seeks to break down silos of care, delivering sepsis treatments based on when they are needed, rather than on where the patient is physically located. If the trial is positive, the results will have broad implications for other health systems by showing that prehospital identification and treatment of sepsis increases the number of patients that survive this life-threatening condition. If the trial fails to demonstrate effectiveness of prehospital sepsis treatments, it will ensure that resources are not needlessly invested in large-scale implementations of paramedic sepsis protocols, as has been done in several other jurisdictions. A lack of benefit would also cast doubt on the observational data suggesting that early antibiotics are important, and suggest a more restrained approach to empiric antibiotic therapy. ;


Study Design


Related Conditions & MeSH terms


NCT number NCT03068741
Study type Interventional
Source Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Contact Damon Scales, MD PhD FRCPC
Phone 416-480-5291
Email damon.scales@sunnybrook.ca
Status Recruiting
Phase Phase 4
Start date March 23, 2020
Completion date December 2025

See also
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Completed NCT01689441 - Randomized Controlled Trial of Calcitriol vs. Placebo Among Critically-ill Patients With Sepsis Phase 2
Completed NCT01845766 - Effects of Early Exercise Rehabilitation on Long-term Functional Recovery in Patients With Severe Sepsis N/A
Completed NCT02656654 - COrporeal Compression at the ONset of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock N/A