Can pre-hospital administration reduce time to initial antibiotic therapy in septic patients?

Objective: To quantify the potential time saved with pre-hospital antibiotic therapy in sepsis. Methods: Study data for adult patients transported by Ambulance Victoria (AV), and enrolled into the Australasian Resuscitation In Sepsis Evaluation (ARISE), were linked with pre-hospital electronic records. Results: An AV record was identified for 240 of 341 ARISE patients. The pre-hospital case notes referred to potential infection in 165 patients. The median time to first antibiotic administration from loading the patient into the ambulance was 107 (74–160) min. Conclusions: ARISE patients in Victoria were frequently identified pre-hospital. An opportunity exists to study the feasibility of pre-hospital antibiotic therapy.