Seeking Intensivist/Critical Care Physician: Early Recognition of Sepsis For an upcoming Medscape article, I’m seeking a US-based intensivist or critical care physician to discuss sepsis recognition on general hospital floors from the ICU perspective. The piece will explore what signs are often missed or underappreciated before patients reach the ICU, how communication between floor teams and critical care influences outcomes, and what intensivists wish had been recognized or acted upon earlier in a patient’s course. Questions: ∙ When you receive a septic patient from a general floor, what early warning signs do you most often see were present but not acted upon — and why do you think they were missed? ∙ What is the typical pattern you observe in patients transferred to the ICU for sepsis — was it truly sudden decompensation, or were there subtle signs hours earlier that should have prompted earlier intervention? ∙ How do communication and escalation from floor teams (hospitalists, nurses) work well versus poorly when a patient is deteriorating with possible sepsis? ∙ In your experience consulting on or receiving floor patients with sepsis, where do the most significant delays or breakdowns in recognition occur? ∙ Can you describe a case where earlier recognition and intervention on the floor likely would have changed the patient’s ICU course or outcome? ∙ What is one practical change — at the floor, hospital, or system level — that would most improve early sepsis recognition before patients reach ICU-level acuity? Requirements for participation: ∙ Must be US-based ∙ Must be a practicing intensivist or critical care physician (MD or DO) ∙ Experience receiving or consulting on septic patients transferred from general medical floors ∙ Conflict of interest disclosure required, if applicable Responses are considered permission to quote with attribution in Medscape and may be lightly edited for clarity, accuracy, and flow. The most impactful quotes come from real talk, not overly polished answers. Feel free to respond as you would in a conversation with a colleague over coffee - Medscape readers value authenticity and practical insights over formal, corporate-style language.