Knowledge of and Compliance with Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines among Anesthesiologists: A Nationwide Survey in China

We aimed to describe anesthesiologists' knowledge of and compliance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) guidelines in the perioperative management of patients with sepsis in China. We designed a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional survey. We sent out online questionnaires during 2019 to evaluate whether anesthesiologists in China were familiar with and applied SSC guidelines in perioperative management. We also compared anesthesiologists' knowledge of and compliance with the guidelines among different levels of hospital. In this study, we obtained 971 responses from anesthesiology departments across China. The survey responses showed that 39.0% of anesthesiologists rated their knowledge of the SSC guidelines as being “very familiar” or at least “somewhat familiar.” In total, 68.9% of respondents chose “Initial fluid resuscitation followed by frequent hemodynamic reassessment” as their therapy strategy for patients with septic shock; 62.0% of anesthesiologists chose lactate as a marker of initial resuscitation in clinical practice, and 39.1% thought bundle therapy needed to be started within 1 hour of sepsis diagnosis. A total of 37.1% and 27.1% of respondents chose hydroxyethyl starches and gelatins, respectively, as the preferred fluids for septic shock. As the first choice of vasopressors in patients with sepsis, 727 (74.9%) anesthesiologists chose the correct answer (norepinephrine). Anesthesiologists from tertiary hospitals (class A) had greater familiarity and compliance with the SSC guidelines than those from other hospitals (P < 0.001). In summary, anesthesiologists in China have some knowledge of the SSC guidelines and tend to practice in keeping with these guidelines. However, for some items, anesthesiologists are not up to date with the latest version of the SSC guidelines. The popularity of these guidelines is not homogenous among different levels of hospital. Anesthesiologists must strengthen their knowledge of the SSC guidelines and update their practice in a regular and timely manner, especially in other tertiary and primary hospitals.