Barriers to implementing protocol-based sepsis resuscitation in the emergency department—Results of a national survey*

Abstract

Nurse managers and physician directors of busy emergency departments representing the largest urban areas in the United States identify multiple barriers to implementing time-sensitive resuscitation to patients with severe sepsis. More than half of all respondents recognized a critical shortage of nursing staff, problems in obtaining central venous pressure monitoring, and challenges in identification of patients with sepsis as the largest roadblocks to overcome in implementing early goal-directed therapy.