Wonderful e mail and perspective, Sean. I don't often feel motivated to respond 
to this US group but on this occasion, love it.

R

Dr Ron Daniels
Chair: UK Sepsis Trust
CEO: Global Sepsis Alliance
Director: MedEFest Ltd

Sent on the move from my iPhone, excuse brevity!

> On 22 Jul 2014, at 17:09, "Townsend, Sean, M.D." <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
> Agree with all that too.  I just don't think ProCESS helped us define much.  
> Think about the absurdity of studying usual care.  Once you publish your 
> findings what was usual is contaminated by your conclusions.  Practice 
> changes and what you publish changes your practice.  You can study it now, in 
> 5 years, in 10 years and come to different conclusions.  It's a great way to 
> stay perpetually NIH funded.  The fabulous never ending study of "the usual."
> 
> Sean R. Townsend, M.D.
> Vice President of Quality & Safety
> California Pacific Medical Center
> 2330 Clay Street, #301<x-apple-data-detectors://0/0>
> San Francisco, CA  94115<x-apple-data-detectors://0/0>
> email [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
> office (415) 600-5770<tel:(415)%20600-5770>
> fax (415) 600-1541<tel:(415)%20600-1541>
> 
> On Jul 22, 2014, at 10:48 AM, "Kramer, George C." 
> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
> one religion is be have the good docs that can perform all of the of 
> detective work on the clues and find the culprit and device the right plan to 
> apprehend or cure.
> 
> another religion is find the good docs, get them to better define their 
> interpretation and tools and put it into a clinical guideline with some 
> specificity. These tools should incorporate "imagination and differential 
> thinking " And the tool helps out for those docs that are spread thin with 
> too many patient on the unit, or are too young or in the OR and not a bedside.
> 
> The tools should even help the good docs.
> 
> All the docs will deviate from the guidelines often based on rationale based 
> on circumstances, co-morbiidies, etc. But reducing variability of care is 
> better care. part of religion 2. And deviations will define better guidelines 
> for the special circumstances.
> 
> george
> 
> but i am a naive physiologist.
> 
> 
> 
> George C. Kramer, PhD.
> Professor
> Director, Resuscitation Research Lab
> Dept. of Anesthesiology
> UTMB, Galveston
> 
> mobile  409-939-3040
> Mary 409747-0077
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 22, 2014, at 8:10 AM, Joseph J. Bander 
> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
> Amen
> 
> 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
> 
> 
> -------- Original message --------
> From: "Townsend, Sean, M.D."
> Date:07/22/2014 9:08 AM (GMT-05:00)
> To: "Kramer, George C."
> Cc: Sue Beswick ,Richard Teplick ,""
> Subject: Re: [Sepsis Groups] Impact of ProCESS study on your protocols
> 
> No offense to anyone here, but this type of measurement is ubiquitous in 
> medicine.  We measure blood pressure, which tells us what directly again?  We 
> measure heart rate, which tells us tamponade or afib or digoxin overdose -- 
> no direct correlation -- but plenty of indirect correlation.  We measure 
> train of 4 -- same.  So no physiologic measurement tells us much about 
> disease directly.  We measure elevated RVSP and might have PE or pulmonary 
> hypertension or something else.
> 
> We are stuck with imagination and differential thinking and that's what makes 
> a good doc versus someone reading the meter.  ScvO2 is a clue.  80% or more 
> if the time it adds to the picture rather than subtracts info.
> 
> It's more like resolution of a photograph. More pixels = more information.  
> Maybe you like looking at blurry pictures or limiting your pixels.  The 
> ostrich keeps it's head in the ground.  I don't know any more....ProCESS 
> people seem happy to know less and make decisions anyway.
> 
> Sean R. Townsend, M.D.
> Vice President of Quality & Safety
> California Pacific Medical Center
> 2330 Clay Street, #301<x-apple-data-detectors://0/0>
> San Francisco, CA  94115<x-apple-data-detectors://0/0>
> email 
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>
> office (415) 600-5770<tel:(415)%20600-5770>
> fax (415) 600-1541<tel:(415)%20600-1541>
> 
> On Jul 21, 2014, at 9:33 AM, "Kramer, George C." 
> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
> what about urinary output?
> 
> it is the gold standard for burn shock a type of shock with high 
> permeability, loss of vascular volume, depressed cardiac contractility, SIRS,
> 
> hmm, that sound similar to sepsis.
> 
> g
> 
> 
> On Jul 18, 2014, at 11:13 AM, Richard Teplick 
> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>>
> wrote:
> 
> One obvious problem with the initial study (Rivers) is that SvO2 is that  
> cannot possibly uniquely reflect adequacy of organ perfusion; at best it 
> reflects extraction. Because of the disparity in organ blood flow and 
> autoregulatory reserve, low flow to, for example, the kidneys could never be 
> detected in the presence of high muscle and skin flow (both of which 
> generally occur in septic shock). Moreover, elite aerobic athletes can reduce 
> their PvO2 to the teens producing SvO2s < 0.3. Yet they clearly have adequate 
> muscle and skin flow although gut and renal flow may be reduced and may have 
> low SvO2 but this cannot be determined from the SvO2 alone. Moreover, giving 
> fluid to increase cardiac output may not alter blood flow to vital organs.  
> My point is that we shouldn’t blindly accept study results that are 
> physiologically unsound. I am most interested in other opinions.
> 
> Dick
> 
> From: Sepsisgroups 
> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>]
>  On Behalf Of Ron Elkin
> Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 17:13
> To: Sue Beswick
> Cc: 
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Sepsis Groups] Impact of ProCESS study on your protocols
> 
> Hi Sue,
> 
> The study has certainly generated a buzz. For objective, serious students of 
> this disease, however, the study should raise serious concerns about 
> protocol, data, and conclusions. I'm sure these will be addressed in medical 
> and other nursing forums in the months to come.
> 
> A few comments or questions as examples:
> 
> 1) "Usual care" has been irrevocably changed since publication of the EGDT 
> study in 2001, as well as guidelines from SSC supported by many of our 
> professional societies. Indeed sepsis management protocols existed in many of 
> the ProCESS hospitals, so the control groups, protocol-based (PB) standard 
> care and usual care, were treated by physicians well versed in EGDT protocols.
> 
> 
> 2) The mortality rates in each study group were unexpectedly and remarkably 
> low, around 20%, and probably not representative of the mortality rates for 
> similar patients in most US hospitals. As a result of the low mortality rate, 
> some question whether the study was adequately powered to examine differences 
> between study groups, and whether the study is generalizable to 5000 US 
> hospitals.
> 
> Moreover, why abandon measures that contributed to such impressive mortality 
> reductions? Are we immune to regressive behavior if practice guidelines are 
> relaxed or removed?
> 
> 
> 3)  The protocol instruction for the first 6 hours was to avoid central line 
> placement, CVP measurement, and ScvO2 in both control groups, PB standard 
> care and usual care, unless peripheral access was inadequate. Yet, over 55% 
> of patients in these groups received them for unstated reasons. One might 
> reasonably speculate they were placed for hypotension and administration of 
> vasopressors. Not stated, however, is how often these lines were utilized for 
> CVP measurements that confirmed or guided resuscitation.
> 
> In the transcript of a recent NQF conference call, available to the public, 
> an author of the study stated CVP measurements were documented in about 1/3 
> of the control patients but were not used to guide therapy as evidenced by 
> the lack of followup measurements. However, almost any experienced clinician 
> will act similarly on some single measurements - a patient with a CVP of 3 on 
> vasopressors will almost always receive volume.
> 
> Also not reported are the number of control patients with lines who had ScvO2 
> measurements, except for the few who received continuous oximetry lines. It 
> also remains possible that blood sample measurements of ScvO2 were utilized 
> in control patients, but this is not addressed in the manuscript.
> 
> We don't know how often CVP and ScvO2 measurements were made in control 
> patients with central lines before randomization. We don't know how often 
> clinicians acted on CVPs estimated by bedside neck exam, vertical column 
> height of blood in the lines that were inserted, or IVC dimensions and change 
> with respiration.
> 
> We don't know how many lines, CVPs, and ScvO2s were added in the control 
> groups after the protocol instructions expired at 6 hours. It is still 
> possible and beneficial to rescue an inadequate resuscitation beyond 6 hours.
> 
> In short, we don't know enough about management of the control groups.
> 
> 
> 4) Protocol non-adherence was reported in 11.9% but information in the 
> appendix suggests higher. MAP goals were achieved in only 83%. Overall bundle 
> compliance is not reported.
> 
> In short, we don't know enough about the quality of management in the EGDT 
> group.
> 
> 
> 5) Not reported are statistical comparisons between all study patients with 
> lines versus without, control patients with lines versus without, and each of 
> the 2 control group.
> 
> 
> So in summary, care in any of the study groups is not adequately described, 
> and care in the control groups appears to be significantly contaminated by 
> EGDT. I for one do not favor protocol changes on the basis of this study at 
> this time, and I know for a fact that I have a lot of company.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Ron Elkin MD
> California Pacific Medical Center
> San Francisco, CA
> 
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2014 at 6:23 AM, Sue Beswick 
> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Is anyone adapting their protocols with the findings that came out this year 
> with the ProCESS study?
> We are looking at making some changes.
> 
> Sue
> 
> Sue Beswick APRN, MS, CCNS, CCRN
> CNS Critical Care
> Greenville Health System
> 701 Grove Road l Greenville, SC 29605
> Office:  864-455-4884<tel:864-455-4884>
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sepsisgroups mailing list
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>
> http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sepsisgroups mailing list
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>
> http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sepsisgroups mailing list
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]>
> http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org
> _______________________________________________
> Sepsisgroups mailing list
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
> http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Sepsisgroups mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org
_______________________________________________
Sepsisgroups mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.sepsisgroups.org/listinfo.cgi/sepsisgroups-sepsisgroups.org

Reply via email to