A new set of 10 research priorities has been published by The Intensive Care Society to help shape the future of intensive care research. The priorities were developed in partnership with the James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Louise Rose, Professor of Critical Care Nursing and part of the Senior Leadership team for the Centre for Critical Illness Research (CCIR) at King's College London, co-led the JLA PSP – which brought together patients, relatives, carers and members of the critical care workforce to identify the areas where research is most urgently needed.
The priorities aim to guide research over the coming years and address key challenges across intensive care, from improving recovery after critical illness to enhancing the experience of patients and families in intensive care units (ICUs).
The top 10 priorities cover:
- finding better ways to prevent and treat delirium in ICU
- improving psychological recovery after critical illness
- preventing and treating Post Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS)
- improving communication support for critically ill patients
- creating better transitions from ICU to ongoing care and rehabilitation
- improving the ICU environment for patients and families
- supporting family involvement in care
- improving diagnosis and treatment of infection in ICU.
The process of defining the priorities began with a national survey, which received more than 1,500 research questions from over 500 respondents. These were refined into a shortlist of unanswered questions before patients, relatives and clinicians came together at a final workshop to agree the priorities.
Professor Louise Rose MBE, Professor of Critical Care Nursing at King's, said: “Now we have our list of priorities, we must look forward to implementing the results of the JLA project. In the next phase, we will explore how to secure crucial research that will help us unlock the pressing questions for our intensive care community.
"We strongly encourage funding bodies and research organisations to use these priorities to shape their future strategic funding streams and grant allocations; enabling researchers, academic institutions, and clinical trials units to design and deliver high-quality studies."
The priorities reflect the shared experiences of those receiving intensive care and those delivering it, with the aim of ensuring future research directly addresses the needs of patients and families.
Professor Shondipon Laha, President of the Intensive Care Society, said: “I am truly delighted to mark the launch of these top ten priorities today. They reflect not only where we are, but where we aspire to go – shaped by lived experience and driven by a shared determination to improve care for all.
"At the Centre for Critical Illness Research at King's, we are dedicated to transforming outcomes for people affected by critical illness through world-leading, patient-centred research spanning prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. By aligning scientific excellence with the priorities identified by patients, carers, and clinicians through the James Lind Alliance, the Centre is well positioned to deliver research with meaningful clinical impact."
