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Objective Septic shock is associated with increased long-term morbidity and mortality. However, little is known about the use of hospital-based acute care in survivors after hospital discharge. The objectives of the study were to examine the frequency, timing, causes, and risk factors associated with Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary, academic hospital in the United States. Patients Patients admitted with septic shock (serum lactate ≥ 4 mmol/L or refractory hypotension) and discharged alive to a non-hospice setting between 2007 and 2010. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results The co-primary outcomes were all-cause hospital readmission and ED visits (treat-and-release encounters) within 30 days to any of the three health system hospitals. Of 269 at-risk survivors, 63 (23.4%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 18.2, 28.5) were readmitted within 30 days of discharge and another 12 (4.5%, 95% CI: 2.3, 7.7) returned to the ED for a treat-and-release visit. Readmissions occurred within 15 days of discharge in 75% of cases and were more likely in oncology patients (p=0.001) and patients with a longer hospital length of stay (p=0.04). Readmissions were frequently due to another life-threatening condition and resulted in death or discharge to hospice in 16% of cases. The reasons for readmission were deemed potentially related to the index septic shock hospitalization in 78% (49/63) of cases. The most common cause was infection-related, accounting for 46% of all 30-day readmissions, followed by cardiovascular or thromboembolic events (18%). Conclusions The use of hospital-based acute care appeared to be common in septic shock survivors. Encounters often led to readmission within 15 days of discharge, were frequently due to another acute condition, and appeared to result in substantial morbidity and mortality. Given the potential public health implications of these findings, validation studies are needed.

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Introduction: Early recognition of elevated lactate levels in sepsis may hasten the detection of those patients eligible for aggressive resuscitation. Point-of-care (POC) testing is now increasingly available for use in the emergency department (ED). We examined the accuracy and time-saving effect of a handheld POC device for the measurement of fingertip and whole blood lactate as compared with reference laboratory testing in critically ill ED patients.Methods: A convenience sample of adult ED patients receiving serum lactate testing was prospectively enrolled at an urban, tertiary care US hospital. Consenting patients underwent fingertip POC lactate measurement with a portable device and simultaneous whole blood sampling for analysis by both the POC device and standard laboratory analyzer (“reference method”). Lactate measurements were compared by intraclass correlation (ICC) and Bland and Altman plots. Differences in time to test result were compared by paired t test.Results: Twenty-four patients, 19 (79%) with sepsis and 21 (88%) with lactate levels below 4 mmol/L, were included from April 2005 to May 2005. Fingertip POC and whole blood POC lactate measurements each correlated tightly with the reference method (ICC = 0.90 and ICC = 0.92, respectively). Mean time between obtaining fingertip lactate samples and whole blood reference lactate samples was 8 ± 13 minutes. Mean time between obtaining POC and reference laboratory lactate results was 65 minutes (95% confidence interval, 30–103).Conclusion: Fingertip POC lactate measurement is an accurate method to determine lactate levels in infected ED patients with normal or modestly elevated lactate values and significantly decreases time to test results. These findings should be verified in a larger, more critically ill, ED population.

Therapeutic/care management study, level III.