Sepsis and septic shock are life-threatening conditions that are associated with a high rate of complications, long-term treatment and high mortality (20%) and represent a major public health problem. The pathophysiological basis of sepsis is a disturbance in the regulation of the host's response to infection, while septic shock is a form of sepsis characterized by dysfunction of circulation, cellular and metabolic processes with the development of multiple organ failure (1). Public health multicenter studies in 2017 showed a 10% increase in the incidence of sepsis in the period from 2009 to 2014, which the authors explain by the older age of patients, the use of long-term immunosuppressive therapy, the development of resistant bacteria, but also a higher rate of early recognition of sepsis and more frequent establishing a diagnosis. Diagnosing and initial treatment must begin immediately upon arrival of the patient in the emergency department (ER), and include provision, monitoring, supportive and targeted treatment. Newer clinical practice is directed towards the early application of antibiotic therapy as one of the factors for improving the outcome and reducing the length of treatment for this group of patients (protocol of the first hour of the SSC - Surviving Sepsis Campaign from 2016). According to the stated guidelines, empiric antibiotic therapy should be started as soon as sepsis and septic shock are recognized as conditions (2). In this retrospektive study, we monitored the quality of treatment of patients with sepsis and/or septic shock and evaluate early application of empiric antibiotic therapy on the survival and duration of treatment of septic patients who were initially treated in ER and later treated in one of the intensive care unitse of the Rijeka Clinical Hospital Center (CHC) in the period from July 1, 2018. until November 30, 2019. The patients were classified into two groups, those in whom antibiotic therapy was started already in the ER and those in whom such therapy was started upon admission to the department, and the survival and length of treatment between these two groups of patients will be compared.