Upcoming and urgent challenges in critical care research based on COVID-19 pandemic experience
Year: 2022
Type: review
Abstract: While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic placed a heavy burden on healthcare systems worldwide, it also induced urgent mobilisation of research teams to develop treatments preventing or curing the disease and its consequences. It has, therefore, challenged critical care research to rapidly focus on specific fields while forcing critical care physicians to make difficult ethical decisions. This narrative review aims to summarise critical care research -from organisation to research fields- in this pandemic setting and to highlight opportunities to improve research efficiency in the future, based on what is learned from COVID-19. This pressure on research revealed, i.e., (i) the need to harmonise regulatory processes between countries, allowing simplified organisation of international research networks to improve their efficiency in answering large-scale questions; (ii) the importance of developing translational research from which therapeutic innovations can emerge; (iii) the need for improved triage and predictive scores to rationalise admission to the intensive care unit. In this context, key areas for future critical care research and better pandemic preparedness are artificial intelligence applied to healthcare, characterisation of long-term symptoms, and ethical considerations. Such collaborative research efforts should involve groups from both high and low-to-middle income countries to propose worldwide solutions. As a conclusion, stress tests on healthcare organisations should be viewed as opportunities to design new research frameworks and strategies. Worldwide availability of research networks ready to operate is essential to be prepared for next pandemics. Importantly, researchers and physicians should prioritise realistic and ethical goals for both clinical care and research.
Authors: Franck Verdonk, Dorien Feyaerts, Rafael Badenes, Julie A. Bastarache, Adrien Bouglé, Wesley Ely, Brice Gaudilliere, Christopher Howard, Katarzyna Kotfis, Alexandre Lautrette, Matthieu Le Dorze, Babith Joseph Mankidy, Michael A. Matthay, Christopher K. Morgan, Aurélien Mazeraud, Brijesh V. Patel, Rajyabardhan Pattnaik, Jean Reuter, Marcus J. Schultz, Tarek Sharshar, Gentle S. Shrestha, Charles Verdonk, Lorraine B. Ware, Romain Pirracchio, Matthieu Jabaudon
Institutions: Sorbonne Université, Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Stanford Medicine, Groupe de recherche clinique en anesthésie réanimation médecine périopératoire, Stanford University, Universitat de València, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Pomeranian Medical University, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand, Hôpital Lariboisière, University of California, San Francisco, GHU Paris psychiatrie & neurosciences, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, Harefield Hospital, Imperial College London, Ispat General Hospital, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Service de Santé des Armées, San Francisco General Hospital, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Inserm, Université Clermont Auvergne, Institut Génétique, Reproduction et Développement
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,100
OpenAlex ID: W4283736289