Sepsis Diagnostics and Diagnostic Stewardship in Resource Limited Settings
Description:
Timely and accurate diagnosis of sepsis is essential to improving outcomes, yet resource-limited settings face unique challenges, including limited laboratory capacity, delayed testing, workforce constraints, and competing clinical priorities.
This session will examine current and emerging approaches to sepsis diagnostics with an emphasis on diagnostic stewardship in low-resource and under-resourced environments. Participants will explore practical strategies for optimizing the use of available diagnostic tools, such as clinical criteria, basic laboratory tests, microbiology, and point-of-care technologies, while minimizing unnecessary testing and delays in treatment. Context-appropriate algorithms, implementation considerations, and examples from global and rural health settings will also be highlighted. Emphasis will be placed on balancing early sepsis recognition, antimicrobial stewardship, cost-effectiveness, and equitable access to care.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this session, the learner should be able to:
- Describe key challenges and limitations affecting sepsis diagnosis in resource-limited settings.
- Apply principles of diagnostic stewardship to optimize sepsis evaluation using available clinical and laboratory resources;
- Compare the utility of clinical assessment, basic laboratory testing, microbiology, and point-of-care diagnostics for sepsis in low-resource environments.
- Integrate diagnostic strategies that support timely treatment while minimizing unnecessary testing and inappropriate antimicrobial use.
- Identify practical, scalable approaches to improving sepsis diagnostic pathways in resource-constrained health systems.
Target Audience:
Nurses, advanced practice providers, physicians, emergency responders, pharmacists, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, physical/occupational therapists, infection prevention specialists, data/quality specialists, and more.
Michael McCurdy, MD
Clinical Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine
University School of Maryland School of Medicine
Michael McCurdy, MD, is a triple-board-certified critical care physician who has used his extensive clinical and research experience to focus on creating, developing, and deploying novel solutions to complex medical problems encountered in the inpatient, outpatient, austere, and military environments. A clinical professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and Emergency Medicine at The University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. McCurdy has authored over 130 peer-reviewed manuscripts. His clinical research primarily focuses on novel ways to identify and resuscitate sepsis and other shock states, improve acute medical care in austere environments, and provide telemedical ultrasound support to remote clinicians. His work has led to multiple inventions to assist with bedside resuscitation efforts. He serves as an advisor or board member for several companies and nonprofit organizations.
Dr. McCurdy remains involved with Nereus Medical Solutions, which delivers critical care in various austere environments around the globe. While he enjoyed serving as the lone physician providing medical support for a National Geographic around-the-world trip to many of the globe’s most remote regions, hehas focused the bulk of his international efforts on St. Luke’s Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His multi-year efforts there centered on educating Haitian physicians to conduct clinical research for the purpose of establishing a long-term, sustainable medical infrastructure that seamlessly integrates low-cost technology and high-quality education and patient care. His hope is that his group’s work will serve generations of Haitians while also providing a framework for the creation of similar sustainable medical care in other resource-limited countries.
Dr. McCurdy previously served as the Chief Medical Officer of BOA Biomedical, utilizing a DARPA-funded pan-pathogen-binding protein developed at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute to enable rapid pathogen identification and clearance. He now serves as the CMO of Clairyon, a University of California San Diego-based AI company focused on deploying: inpatient and outpatient sepsis predictive analytics tools that ingest and process multimodal data sources (e.g., EHR, wearables, symptom assessment tools), automated inpatient quality assessment and reporting, and a generative AI mobile chatbot to streamline the management of illness and predict the development of outpatient clinical decompensation, particularly from sepsis.