GenomeWebinars

Sepsis is a growing healthcare crisis, causing over 11 million deaths worldwide. Early recognition and timely, comprehensive therapeutic interventions improve patient outcomes and have been codified in current clinical guidelines and government reporting requirements. However, non-specific presenting symptoms that mimic other diagnoses combined with multiple clinical definitions lead to diagnostic uncertainty. Identifying the undiagnosed septic patient within the sea of undifferentiated patients simultaneously presenting to the Emergency Department is challenging and can lead to potential treatment delays with associated increases in morbidity and mortality.

This webinar is presented by Dr. Tiffany Osborn, Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medicine for the Surgical/Trauma Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department at Washington University School of Medicine and Dr. Christopher Farnsworth, instructor in the Department of Pathology & Immunology at Washington University and medical director of Clinical Chemistry, Point of Care testing, and the Special Pathogens Laboratory at Barnes Jewish Hospital.

During the session, Dr. Osborn and Dr. Farnsworth will discuss how teamwork between the laboratory and clinical medicine can improve patient care through earlier identification and treatment of septic patients. They will discuss the challenges associated with current screening biomarkers, as well as the opportunities presented by a novel sepsis biomarker, monocyte distribution width.

After this webinar, you will be able to:

• Explain the relationship between early sepsis treatment and improved patient mortality
• Differentiate among Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions and common sepsis screening criteria such as qSOFA and SIRS
• Review published evidence supporting the effectiveness of monocyte distribution width in early sepsis detection