The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) is preparing for its 2026 Critical Care Congress in Chicago, Illinois. From March 22 through March 24, the 2026 Critical Care Congress is three days of critical care education presented through thousands of comprehensive sessions hosted by experts from around the world.

With more than 2,200 scheduled sessions, the 2026 Critical Care Congress is packed with opportunities to learn. Today, we have a curated selection of sessions that are focused on the topic of sepsis. The following times and dates are accurate as of this writing, but view the 2026 Critical Care Congress schedule for the latest information.

Sunday, March 22

Sepsis at Birth is Associated with the Later Development of Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
  • Description: The etiologies of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are complex, with evidence suggesting that genetics, maternal in utero exposures, autoantibodies, and the early-life exposome contribute to disease progression. [The speakers] identify multiple converging factors contributing to ASD, highlighting a significant association between sepsis at birth and later ASD diagnosis through complementary methodologies.

Assessment of Initial Sepsis Antibiotic Administration Practices Following Compatibility Education

  • 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
  • Description: The Surviving Sepsis Guidelines recommend broad-spectrum antibiotics within one to three hours of possible sepsis. In August 2024, real time pharmacist-led written and verbal education was implemented, encouraging the use of concomitant antibiotic administration or gram-negative agent prioritization if agents were incompatible. This pre/post study assessed the effect of the pharmacist’s IV-line compatibility intervention on time to first-dose antibiotics in the emergency department.

BMI and Mortality in Severe Sepsis: A Retrospective Study at Kaiser Permanente Northern California

  • 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
  • Description: Obesity is one of the most common comorbidities in the United States. Despite this, the impact of body mass index (BMI) on mortality in patients with severe sepsis is unclear. The goal of this study is to determine the relationship between BMI and the adjusted 30-day mortality rate in patients with severe sepsis.

Personalizing Blood Pressure Targets in Sepsis: External Validation of the STRIVE-MAP AI System

  • 10:45 AM – 11:35 AM
  • Description: There is currently no tool to support personalised mean arterial pressure (MAP) targets in sepsis. Clinical practice varies widely; meanwhile, routinely collected data remains largely untapped for informing real-time clinical decisions. STRIVE-MAP is a machine learning-based decision support system that estimates the expected clinical benefit of different MAP levels by comparing ICU patients in real time with similar historical cases.

Timely Antibiotics and Fluid Resuscitation Increase Discharge Home After Sepsis

  • 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  • Description: Sepsis is a devastating condition with high mortality and high rates of discharge to post-acute care facilities. [The researchers] sought to examine the impact of timely antibiotic delivery and fluid resuscitation on discharge home after sepsis.

Refining WBC and Temperature Thresholds to Improve Early Sepsis Detection: Retrospective Evaluation

  • 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  • Description: White blood cell count (WBC) and temperature thresholds used in the SIRS criteria (WBC < 4 or >12 ×10⁹/L; temperature < 36°C or >38°C) have long been flagged as abnormal in electronic health records (EHRs), often triggering clinical actions such as ordering blood cultures or antibiotics. These thresholds were originally derived from expert consensus in the early 1990s and continue to play a prominent role in EHR identification of potential sepsis cases. [The researchers] hypothesized that revising WBC and temperature thresholds using real-world data may improve their ability to detect sepsis.

Impact of an Elevated Fluid Accumulation Index in Septic Patients With HFrEF: A MIMIC-IV Analysis

  • 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  • Description: Guidelines support fluid resuscitation (30ml/kg over 3 hours) in all patients presenting with sepsis. Despite this, clinicians are hesitant to comply with aggressive fluid resuscitation in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Significant practice variation also occurs in fluid management during the later phases of sepsis. The Fluid Accumulation Index [FAI=(fluid intake–fluid output)/fluid intake] quantifies a patient’s ability to excrete fluids under varying fluid loads. FAI values >0.42 are associated with poor outcomes in an older dataset (Medical information Mart for Intensive Care, MIMIC III, 2001-2012). This retrospective cohort study evaluated the influence of the FAI on clinical outcomes during sepsis management in those with HFrEF using more contemporary data.

The Future of Sepsis and ARDS Therapy: Breakthroughs to Watch in 2026

  • 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
  • Description: This session contains three smaller sessions: Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor: A Novel Approach to ARDS Therapy; Interleukin and Cytokine Modulation: Shaping the Immune Response in Sepsis and ARDS Using Precision Approaches; Targeting DPP3: A New Frontier in Sepsis Management.

Predicting Survival Benefit of Early Vasopressor Use in Septic Shock: A Multicenter Cohort Study

  • 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM
  • Description: Early administration of vasopressors in septic shock may improve survival, but not all patients derive equal benefit. [The researchers] aimed to develop a prognostic model to identify patients who are more likely to survive with early vasopressor therapy.

Sepsis Alert Fatigue and Crowding: Impact on Diagnosis and Antibiotic Timing

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: Septic shock is a leading cause of hospital mortality with fatality rates up to 34%. Early recognition and antibiotics are critical, yet responsiveness to electronic health record sepsis alerts varies. Understanding how provider experience, workload, and alert engagement affect diagnosis and treatment is essential. Study findings aim to improve septic shock care.

Liberal vs Restrictive Fluid Resuscitation in Sepsis With Underlying Heart Failure: A Meta-Analysis

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: In patients with sepsis, fluid resuscitation plays a pivotal role in restoring tissue perfusion. However, when sepsis occurs in the setting of pre-existing heart failure (HF), maintaining tissue perfusion becomes particularly challenging. Liberal fluid strategies may enhance perfusion but increase the risk of volume overload, whereas restrictive approaches aim to prevent fluid-related complications but may compromise organ perfusion. Current guidelines do not provide clear recommendations for fluid resuscitation in this complex population. This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of liberal versus restrictive fluid resuscitation strategies in this high-risk population.
Monday, March 23

Thought Leader: Making Sepsis the Next Success Story in Global Health (William C. Shoemaker Honorary Lecture)

  • 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM
  • Description: This session will explore the epidemiology and disproportionate burden of sepsis globally, including the role of poverty and social determinants of health. The speaker will outline the gains from addressing sepsis in the past decade and the role that we can play in addressing sepsis. The speaker will also discuss ongoing efforts to make sepsis the next triumph in global health.

Prior GLP-1 Usage May Be Associated With Reduced Mortality in Septic Surgical Patients With Obesity

  • 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
  • Description: Recent data suggests that GLP-1 agonists have anti-inflammatory effects that may reduce immune dysregulation in sepsis. [Researchers] have previously shown that septic surgical patients with obesity exhibit higher 90-day mortality compared to non-obese cohorts. The objective of this abstract was to characterize the association between pre-admission GLP-1 usage and sepsis outcomes in septic patients with obesity.

Sepsis Best Practice Advisories as Clinical Decision Support in the Pediatric ICU

  • 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
  • Description: Advances in clinical decision support (CDS), such as best practice advisories (BPAs) can assist providers in early recognition of sepsis. While such tools have shown high sensitivities in the emergency department, their use in highly monitored settings such as intensive care units (ICU) may risk alarm fatigue. The goal of this study is to evaluate how such CDS performs, defined by changes to clinical management in patients with newly or previously identified sepsis in the pediatric ICU (PICU).

Comparative Effectiveness of Protocolized Sepsis Care in Neonatal and Pediatric Intensive Care Units

  • 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
  • Description: Infants under six months of age with sepsis may be admitted to either Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) or Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs), depending on institutional structure and patient factors. Despite differences in age-specific physiology and care paradigms, few studies have directly compared the impact of sepsis management strategies on clinical outcomes between these settings. This study evaluates the effectiveness of protocolized sepsis care delivered in NICUs vs. PICUs for infants ≤6 months of age.

What’s New and Different in the Surviving Sepsis Campaign 2026

  • 9:45 AM – 10:45 AM
  • Description: This session features a trio of mini sessions: Key Aspects of Surviving Sepsis Campaign Methods; New and Revised Surviving Sepsis Campaign Recommendations; Applicability of Surviving Sepsis Campaign to Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Impact of Time to Antibiotics on Mortality in Immunocompromised Patients With Sepsis Syndromes

  • 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM
  • Description: Timely antibiotic administration is a key determinant of sepsis survival and is presumed to be critical in immunocompromised host (ICH) patients. However, robust evidence supporting this assumption is limited.

2026 Update to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock in Children

  • 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM
  • Description: This session contains two mini smaller sub-sessions: What’s new in Recognition and Management of Infection, Hemodynamics, and Resuscitation; What’s New in Ventilation, Metabolic, Adjunctive, and Immunologic Therapies and Long-Term Outcomes.

Implementation of a Hospital Ward Sepsis Response Team in a Large Academic Medical Center

  • 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
  • Description: Hospital-onset sepsis is associated with higher mortality than community-onset sepsis and often presents diagnostic and treatment delays in non-critical care hospital settings. Prior studies describing sepsis response teams have primarily focused on emergency department or intensive care unit populations. In 2022, our large academic medical center launched a dedicated Sepsis Emergency Response Team (SERT) to identify and treat early sepsis among patients on hospital wards (HWs).

Evaluation of a Virtual ICU Nurse-Led Sepsis Monitoring and Response Process Pilot

  • 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
  • Description: Early recognition and response to sepsis is a key link in the sepsis chain of survival. Early warning systems lack high reliability to identify patients with possible sepsis. False alarms and alert fatigue impact healthcare. [The researchers] explored a novel approach to rapidly identify and evaluate patients for possible sepsis through screening of a proprietary alert combined with triage integration with a Virtual ICU Nurse (VICU RN).

Clinical Outcomes of Various Hydrocortisone Dosing Regimens for Septic Shock

  • 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
  • Description: Adjunctive use of IV hydrocortisone 200 mg daily is recommended by the SCCM Surviving Sepsis Guidelines for refractory septic shock. At our institution, this is administered as 50 mg every six hours (Q6H). During a national hydrocortisone shortage, alternative dosing strategies—100 mg every 8 (Q8H) or 12 hours (Q12H)—were proposed to conserve supply, as each 100 mg single-use vial supports only one dose and the standard regimen requires four vials per day with ample waste. Given hydrocortisone’s short half-life, [the researchers] questioned whether reduced dosing frequency might impact clinical outcomes.

Advancing Sepsis Diagnostics: Implementing Novel Biomarkers and Technologies and the ED and ICU

  • 1:30 PM – 2:15 PM
  • Description: This sessions contains a pair of sub-sessions: The Science Behind Emerging Sepsis Biomarkers: What Do They Measure and Why Do They Matter?; Implementing Novel Sepsis Diagnostic in the Emergency Department and ICU: Practical Considerations.

Evaluation of Stress-Dose Steroid Weaning Strategies in Patients Following Septic Shock

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome that remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the intensive care unit (ICU). The 2016 Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines recommend tapering corticosteroids once vasopressors are no longer needed, but evidence on proper daily dosing and duration is limited. This study evaluates corticosteroid tapering strategies in septic shock patients.

Hydrocortisone Dosing Frequency in Septic Shock

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: [The researchers] sought to determine if there are any differences in clinical outcomes between hydrocortisone dosing regimens for septic shock.

LV Strain Predicts Long-Term Outcomes in Sepsis: A Retrospective Multicenter Study

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: Sepsis survivors face an increased risk of long-term cardiovascular disease, yet traditional assessments often fail to identify those at risk. [The researchers] investigated the prognostic utility of Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain (LV GLS) in patients with sepsis and preserved Left ventricle Ejection fraction (LVEF), aiming to evaluate subclinical cardiac risk undetectable by the standard measure.

Inflammatory Endotypes of Sepsis: Preclinical Models and Clinical Investigation

  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
  • Description: Although cytokine-specific biologics are available for immune modulation of systemic inflammatory conditions, their clinical utility is limited by the inability to rapidly discriminate various inflammatory processes. Recently, preclinical models have demonstrated that the clinical phenotype of sepsis can be induced in mice by pair-wise administration of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), plus either interleukin-1 beta (IL-1), IL-18, or interferon-gamma (IFN-). Unfortunately, direct measurement of these inflammatory cytokines has not proven useful. Instead, [researchers] hypothesized that these cytokine-induced sepsis models could be used to inform other biomarkers for discriminating distinct cytokine storm endotypes, and that these endotypes are present in children with hyper-inflammatory syndromes.
Tuesday, March 24 

Open Sesame: The Magic of POCUS and Its Role in Early and Late Sepsis Management

  • 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM
  • Description: This session is divided into two sub-sessions: Hocus Pocus? Are There Benefits to Implementing a POCUS-Based Resuscitative Protocol for Patients with Sepsis?; Abracadabra! Making Fluid Overload Disappear From POCUS-Based Sepsis Management.

Elevated Renin Is Associated With Poor Outcomes in Children With Sepsis and Acute Kidney Injury

  • 8:55 AM – 9:55 AM
  • Description: Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) is a heterogeneous syndrome associated with high morbidity and mortality in PICU patients. Prognostic enrichment tools may facilitate targeted kidney protection. Renin-angiotensin system derangement, evidenced by elevated renin levels, is associated with poor outcomes in critically ill adults and children, but this association has not been assessed in pediatric SA-AKI. [The researchers] hypothesized higher serum renin levels would be associated with poor outcomes in this population.

The Association of Post-COVID-19 Conditions With Mortality in Sepsis

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • Description: COVID-19 is associated with lasting immune dysfunction, an evolving spectrum of post-COVID-19 conditions (PCC), and increased risk of subsequent sepsis-related hospitalizations. [The researchers] examined the population-level association of PCC with mortality in sepsis.

Two Decades of Sepsis Mortality in Pneumonia Patients: Analysis of CDC WONDER Data (1999-2020)

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • Description: Sepsis remains a leading cause of mortality among hospitalized patients, particularly in older adults with underlying infections such as Pneumonia. Despite advancements in critical care and antimicrobial therapies, population-level trends in sepsis-related mortality among pneumonia patients have not been thoroughly characterized over a long period. This study examines national mortality trends in adults aged 55 years and older with pneumonia and sepsis concurrently from 1999 to 2020. 

Sepsis & Kidneys: A Deadly Duo in U.S. Seniors (1999-2023 Trends)

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • Description: Sepsis, responsible for 1 in 3 hospital deaths in the United States, becomes even more deadly in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which affects nearly one-third of the elderly population. However, little is known about the long-term effects of CKD on sepsis mortality in older adults, despite its clinical significance. Using national death records, this study examines two decades of mortality trends (1999–2023) among U.S. adults aged 65 and older with both CKD and sepsis.

Purpura Fulminans in Pneumococcal Sepsis: A Fatal Complication in a Patient With Sickle Cell Trait

  • 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
  • Description: Purpura fulminans is a rare rapidly-progressive thrombotic disorder characterized by disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), tissue necrosis, and multiorgan failure. It is precipitated by severe bacterial infection, especially in functionally asplenic or immunocompromised patients. Though most commonly associated with meningococcemia, Streptococcus pneumoniae is also a known inciting pathogen.

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