A method of monitoring the therapeutic efficacy of a treatment administered to a pediatric patient with septic shock, the method comprising: analyzing a first sample that has been obtained from the patient at a first time point, which is during day 1 of presentation with septic shock and before a treatment has been administered, to determine a first level of each of three biomarkers CCL3, IL8 and HSPA1B; analyzing a second sample that has been obtained from the patient at a second time point, which is during day 3 of presentation with septic shock and after the treatment has been administered to the patient to determine a second level of each of the three biomarkers; determining whether the level of each biomarker is elevated above a cut-off level at each of the first and second time points; wherein a classification of high risk comprises: a) a non-elevated level of CCL3 and an elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or b) a highly elevated level of CCL3 at the first time point, and a non-elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or c) an elevated level of CCL3 and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and an elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or d) an elevated level of CCL3 and a non-highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and elevated levels of IL8 and HSPA1B at the second time point; and comparing the patient's risk for a poor outcome at each of the time points to determine if the patient's risk for a poor outcome increased or decreased between the time points, where an increased risk for a poor outcome indicates that a therapy has had a poor efficacy, and a reduced risk for a poor outcome indicates that a therapy has had a good efficacy. analyzing a first sample that has been obtained from the patient at a first time point, which is during day 1 of presentation with septic shock and before a treatment has been administered, to determine a first level of each of three biomarkers CCL3, IL8 and HSPA1B; analyzing a second sample that has been obtained from the patient at a second time point, which is during day 3 of presentation with septic shock and after the treatment has been administered to the patient to determine a second level of each of the three biomarkers; determining whether the level of each biomarker is elevated above a cut-off level at each of the first and second time points; wherein a classification of high risk comprises: a) a non-elevated level of CCL3 and an elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or b) a highly elevated level of CCL3 at the first time point, and a non-elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or c) an elevated level of CCL3 and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and an elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or d) an elevated level of CCL3 and a non-highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and elevated levels of IL8 and HSPA1B at the second time point; and a) a non-elevated level of CCL3 and an elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or b) a highly elevated level of CCL3 at the first time point, and a non-elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or c) an elevated level of CCL3 and a highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and an elevated level of IL8 at the second time point, or d) an elevated level of CCL3 and a non-highly elevated level of IL8 at the first time point, and elevated levels of IL8 and HSPA1B at the second time point; and comparing the patient's risk for a poor outcome at each of the time points to determine if the patient's risk for a poor outcome increased or decreased between the time points, where an increased risk for a poor outcome indicates that a therapy has had a poor efficacy, and a reduced risk for a poor outcome indicates that a therapy has had a good efficacy.