TELEmedicine as an Intervention for Sepsis in Emergency Departments

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that has doubled in incidence over the past decade, and timely aggressive medical intervention has been shown to save lives. Rural sepsis patients have a 38% higher mortality rate, possibly attributable to delays in early sepsis care. Rural emergency department (ED)-based provider-to-provider telemedicine has been proposed to standardize care and support local clinicians in rural hospitals. The goal of this multicenter observational comparative effectiveness study is to measure the association between tele-ED use and clinical outcomes in a cohort of rural sepsis patients.