Sepsis Alliance Receives Competitive Engagement Award from PCORI to Further Patient Engagement and Sepsis Work

Sepsis Alliance has been approved for a Eugene Washington PCORI Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an independent, non-profit research organization created to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed health decisions. The funded project will allow Sepsis Alliance to create an “Academy” to train patients, healthcare professionals, and researchers to partner in the planning and dissemination of sepsis- and diagnosis-related patient-centered outcomes research or comparative clinical effectiveness research (PCOR/CER) projects. Sepsis Alliance will design the curriculum, including presentations and interactive workshops, for the Academy and recruit initial cohorts of 15 patients/survivors and 15 healthcare professionals, who will be the first class of program participants.

Sepsis is a life-threatening emergency that happens when your body’s response to an infection damages vital organs and, often, causes death. In the United States alone, over 350,000 adults and 6,800 children lose their lives each year due to sepsis. Those who survive can face lifelong after-effects including amputations, chronic pain, and lingering cognitive effects. Because of often vague symptoms, diagnosis is difficult. Due to the rapidity of sepsis progression, early diagnosis is key to preventing harm or death. There is little consensus about the best approaches for diagnosing sepsis, and more PCOR/CER is needed to help patients and clinicians triage and take action when sepsis is developing.

“Sepsis Alliance has spent the past 12 years working diligently to raise awareness and educate the masses on sepsis recognition, diagnosis, treatment, and care, but we need to do more,” said Thomas Heymann, Sepsis Alliance President and CEO. “We’ve realized that awareness and education are not sufficient alone to cure sepsis. We are so grateful for this award from PCORI that will allow us to educate and train patients and healthcare professionals on the ground floor to help accelerate sepsis research. This program will save lives through increased speed and efficiency of sepsis research and innovation.”

The project will run from February 2024 through June 2025, and is expected to achieve the following:

1. The creation of a patient cohort to infuse lived experience into planning, conduct, and dissemination of research;
2. The creation of a clinician/researcher cohort trained in PCOR/CER to facilitate patient engagement in research;

The project team anticipates the continued spreading of awareness of and participation in PCOR/CER through the function of these and future cohorts; and in the longer term, an increase in sepsis and diagnosis-related PCOR/CER, leading to better-informed patient/clinician decision making.

Sepsis Alliance is grateful to PCORI for this award and their belief in our work and impact. More information, including recruitment information for the cohorts, will be available later in 2024. Sign up for the Sepsis Alliance newsletter to access the latest information and results from this and other grant work, by clicking here.