Data from 15,022 subjects at 165 sites at which the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC)  6 hour and 24 hour care guideline bundles were introduced were submitted from 2005 to early 2008. As adherence to the guidelines increased (18.4 to 26.1%), hospital mortality decreased (37 to 30.8%). The study was partly funded by manufacturers of some of the monitoring and therapeutic components of the SSC guidelines.
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign: Results of an international guideline- based performance improvement program targeting severe sepsis
Crit Care Med. 2010 Feb;38(2):367-74
An insightful editorial points out several methodological weaknesses in this study, as well as the interesting point that the guidelines published in 2004 drew on evidence published predominantly between 2000 and 2003, and subsequent research has called a number of components into question. Examples are:

• The Corticosteroid Therapy of Septic Shock (CORTICUS) study did not confirm that low-dose corticosteroids were beneficial
• the Normoglycaemia in Intensive Care Evaluation and Survival Using Glucose Algorithm Regulation (NICE- SUGAR) study reported that targeting tight glycemic control may be harmful
• Early goal-directed therapy is the subject of no less than three ongoing clinical trials supported by national research funding agencies
• and the effect of drotrecogin alfa (activated) is being re-examined in both industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated trials.

While scientific skepticism is healthy, there is no doubt at least that in part due to the efforts of the SSC more clinicians than ever are aware of the importance of timely aggressive management of severe sepsis / septic shock.
The Surviving Sepsis Campaign: robust evaluation and high-quality primary research is still neede
Crit Care Med. 2010 Feb;38(2):683-4