Life After Sepsis: New Video Helps Sepsis Survivors with Strategies to Improve Recovery

SAN DIEGO, Calif., February 24, 2018 – Today the Sepsis Alliance and the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM)THRIVE Initiative launched Life After Sepsis, an informational video that provides sepsis survivors and their caregivers with tools and approaches for recovery. In the United States alone, there are more than 1.4 million sepsis survivors each year, but about one out of four are re-hospitalized within 30 days of release due to additional infection.

Sepsis Alliance and SCCM developed a unique partnership to raise awareness about sepsis survivorship and educate survivors and their caregivers about the risks they may face during recovery. Sepsis survivors often experience difficulty with memory or concentration, anxiety and depression, weakness and difficulty completing routine tasks, recurrent infection and set-backs in their ability to control some chronic diseases. These difficulties may prevent survivors from returning to their normal everyday routine.

Describing her recovery from sepsis, Sepsis Alliance Board Member Dana Mirman said, “The months ahead were not easy and I was surprised by a lot of what I learned, such as the new research that showed sepsis impacts survivors in ways not yet fully understood and that sepsis is a leading cause of death, yet a majority of Americans have not heard the word ‘sepsis’.”

“We recognized an unmet need among sepsis survivors for information on the challenges associated with their recovery process, which can take years, so we partnered with the Society of Critical Care Medicine to produce Life After Sepsis and provide survivors and their families with an accessible resource to support their recovery,” said Steven Q. Simpson, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Sepsis Alliance

Life After Sepsis highlights five strategies to improve recovery after sepsis including: 1) raising awareness of the long-term consequences of sepsis, 2) carefully planning for hospital discharge, 3) following-up with primary care clinicians, 4) working to regain physical strength and 5) seeking medical attention for signs and symptoms of infections.

“A sepsis patient’s journey doesn’t automatically end when they are discharged from the ICU and hospital and go home. It’s vital they receive the proper information, tools, family support, and medical care to help them make the best a full recovery possible, as well as avoid late associated infections and re-hospitalization,” said 2018 SCCM President Jerry J Zimmerman, MD, PhD.

Life After Sepsis will premiere at SCCM’s Save a Life Event in English and Spanish on February 24, 2018, along with English and Spanish companion guides. It will also play on multiple screens throughout the Critical Care Congress in the days that follow. The video is also available on SCCM’s YouTube channel and at its MyICUCare.org website and on the Sepsis Alliance’s site: sepsis.org. In addition, Life After Sepsis can be found in Spanish on Sepsis Alliance’s YouTube channel and on sepsis.org/espanol/.

Media Relation Contacts:
Sepsis Alliance
Angelica Estrada
Tel: 619-232-0300
aestrada@sepsis.org