A nationwide education program in Spain to promote appropriate care for severe sepsis and septic shock has led to a lower rate of sepsis deaths in Spanish hospitals, according to a study published in the May 21 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines, which recommend a six-hour resuscitation bundle and a management bundle for the first 24 hours, were heavily publicized at 59 Spanish ICUs in an attempt to improve compliance. A total of 854 patients were enrolled in the pre-intervention period (November and December 2005), 1,465 patients during the post-intervention period (March and June 2006), and 247 during the long-term follow-up period (November and December 2006).

Patients in the post-intervention group had a 39.7% hospital mortality rate, compared to 44.0% in the pre-intervention group; and a 31.1% 28-day mortality rate, down from 36.4%.

The U.S. mortality rate of severe sepsis is 28.6%, or 215,000 deaths a year.