“Sepsis is more common than many people think. Early detection of key physiological changes has the potential to improve how we manage this disease.” – Dr. Matthias Görges, PhD, MSc.
Dr. Matthias Görges, an investigator at BC Children's Hospital and Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics at UBC, has been busy this summer leading a team of clinicians, statistician and biomedical engineering student in the 2019 sepsis challenge. The challenge invites competing groups to design an algorithm for identifying a patient’s risk of sepsis at multiple time points. Dr. Görges is also part of a team of researchers developing a mobile triage application for low-resource settings, the Pocket Doc for Pneumonia. The app helps identify children who are most at risk of dying, ensuring they receive treatment when they need it. In his view, more can be done to reduce death and the long-term burden of sepsis, particularly in newborns and children.
“The earlier we can intervene, the better chance we have of positive outcomes.”
The challenge in diagnosing sepsis in children is not only to identify correctly those who have the condition, but also to recognize accurately when a child does not have it. Dr. Görges’ research involves transforming current evidence into innovations that use physiological data to support enhanced decision-making by clinicians. Working with physicians and other healthcare specialists to put new and effective tools into clinical practice is an important strategy for improving sepsis management.
By Michelle Lui, MPH (Candidate), MOT, BSc. (FNH)
For more information about Dr. Görges’ research in sepsis, see below links.
- Görges M, Peters C, Murthy S, Pi S, Kissoon N. External Validation of the "Quick" Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 Score Using a Large North American Cohort of Critically Ill Children with Suspected Infection. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2018 Dec;19(12):1114-1119. PMID: 30234742
- Peters C, Murthy S, Brant R, Kissoon N, Görges M. Mortality Risk Using a Pediatric Quick Sequential (Sepsis-Related) Organ Failure Assessment Varies with Vital Sign Thresholds. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2018 Aug;19(8):e394-e402. PMID: 29939978