Table 5.

Effect on time to treatment and length of stay

Outcome		Study	Intervention group	Usual care	P-value
Length of stay	Length of hospital stay (days)	Singer, 2014¹¹	7 (3–13)^a	8 (4–13)^a	0.27
	Length of hospital stay (days)	Larsen, 2011¹²	5.8^a	7.5^a	<0.05^c
	Length of ED stay (minutes)	Singer, 2014¹¹	352 (246–457)^a	326 (249–436)^a	0.5
	Length of ED stay (minutes)	Mullen, 2014¹³	396^b	216^b	0.02^c
	Length of ICU stay (days)	Singer, 2014¹¹	3 (2–6)^a	4 (2–6)^a	0.9

Lactate result	Time to lactate result (minutes)	Singer, 2014¹¹	34 (26–55)^a	122 (82–149)^a	<0.001^c
Lactate result	Lactate result in <1 hour	Smith, 2010¹⁶	OR 4.6, 95% CI = 1.8 to 11.5, with POCL testing

IV fluids	Time to IV fluids (minutes)	Singer, 2014¹¹	55 (34–83)^a	71 (42–110)^a	0.03^c
	IV fluids in <1 hour (%)	Maung, 2014¹⁴	48.8	35.5	0.001^c
	Total volume IV fluids (mL)	Singer, 2014¹¹	2000 (2000–3125)^a	2500 (2000–4000)^a	0.71
	Total volume IV fluids (mL)	Mullen, 2014¹³	3300	5000	0.79
	IV fluids (ml/kg)	Smith, 2010¹⁶	29.3 ± 3.4^b	17.8 ± 1.4^b	<0.01^c

Antibiotics	Time to Abx (minutes)	Singer, 2014¹¹	89 (63–182)^a	97 (55–160)^a	0.59
	Abx in <1 hour (%)	Maung, 2014¹⁴	25	15.1	0.007^c
	Abx in <3 hours	Smith, 2010¹⁶	OR 4.2, 95% CI = 1.2 to 14.4, with POCL testing
Transfusion	Received transfusion (%)	Mullen, 2014¹³	50	62	0.41

↵a Median (IQR).
↵b Mean.
↵c Reaches statistical significance. Abx = antibiotics. CI = confidence interval. ED = emergency department. ICU = intensive care unit. IQR = interquartile range. IV = intravenous. OR = odds ratio. POCL = point-of-care lactate.