Empiric antimicrobial therapy for severe sepsis in the intensive care unit: In early, hit hard, out early

Many of the recommendations on this subject are not supported by high level evidence. Much of the research has been done on hospital and ventilator acquired pneumonia. For the purposes of this paper we are assuming that these findings have relevance to other forms of sepsis. This review of some of the current literature attempts to clarify antimicrobial issues for the Intensive Care SHO or registrar dealing with the onset of severe sepsis in critically ill adults.