Impact of a qSOFA-based triage procedure on antibiotic timing in ED patients with sepsis: A prospective interventional study.

Background: It has not been investigated whether the quick sepsis-related organ failure assessment score (qSOFA), a new bedside tool for early sepsis detection, may help accelerating antibiotic initiation in ED patients with sepsis.

Methods: In this prospective pre/post quasi-experimental single-ED study, patients admitted with a suspected bacterial infection were managed using standard triage procedures only (baseline) or in association with qSOFA (intervention, with prioritization of patients with a qSOFA ≥ 2).

Results: A total of 151/328 (46.