Dr Ron Daniels MB ChB FRCA
Consultant in Anaesthesia and Critical Care Lead Clinican, Critical
Care Outreach, Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham UK
Chair: Surviving Sepsis Campaign United Kingdom Steering Committee
SurviveSEPSIS! Programme Director
Dr Tim Nutbeam MB ChB
Trainee in Emergency Medicine/ Intensive Care Medicine
Editor: SurviveSEPSIS (the educational programme of the international Surviving
Sepsis Campaign)

Contributors.
Preface.
1 Introduction (Mitchell M. Levy).
2 Defining the Spectrum of Disease (Ron Daniels).
3 Identifying the Patient with Sepsis (Ron Daniels).
4 Serious Complications of Sepsis, (Hentie Cilliers, Tony Whitehouse and Bill Tunnicliffe).
5 The Pathophysiology of Sepsis (Edwin Mitchell and Tony Whitehouse).
6 Initial Resuscitation (Tim Nutbeam).
7 Microbiology and Antibiotic Therapy (Partha De and Ron Daniels).
8 Infection Prevention and Control (Fiona Lawrence, Georgina McNamara and Clare Galvin).
9 The Role of Imaging in Sepsis (Morgan Cleasby).
10 Presentations in Medical Patients (Nandan Gautam).
11 Presentations in Surgical Patients (Jonathan Stewart and Sian Abbott).
12 Special Cases: The Immunocompromised Patient (Manos Nikolousis).
13 The Role of Critical Care (Julian Hull).
14 Monitoring the Septic Patient (David Stanley).
15 Novel Therapies in Sepsis (Gavin D. Perkins and David R. Thickett).
16 Approaches to Achieve Change (Julian F. Bion and Gordon D. Rubenfield).
Index.

The importance of early prevention and treatment of sepsis has never been greater. In the UK alone sepsis contributes to more deaths than lung cancer, from bowel cancer and breast cancer combined, and approximately one third of patients who suffer from severe sepsis die. The ABC of Sepsis provides a much needed introduction and an invaluable aid in the increasing efforts to reduce hospital infection and improve patient safety.
As growing numbers of junior medical staff experience emergency medicine, critical care and acute medicine as part of the Foundation Programme, there is an increasing need to develop the skills required to treat severe sepsis. The editors are involved with the Survive Sepsis campaign - developed to improve the recognition, diagnosis and treatment of sepsis - and are perfectly placed to guide junior medics, GPs, specialist nurses, critical care nurses and primary care staff through this core aspect of acute medicine.