Intensive care research

Our intensive care units (ITU) are research active with opportunities to get involved.

AIRWAYS-3

The AIRWAYS-3 study is looking to find the best way to keep a patient’s airway open so artificial breathing can be given during a cardiac arrest. It is comparing two methods currently used routinely in NHS care.

AWAKE PRONE

The AWAKE PRONE study is aiming to find out if lying a patient on their front (awake prone positioning), compared with standard care (sitting up in bed) reduces the chance they will go on a ventilator.

GenOMICC

the GenOMICC study looks at the DNA of people who are critically ill and need ITU/HDU (High Dependency) care. Some of our genes (or DNA) affect how vulnerable we are to critical illness, and this study is trying to find these genes because they could help develop better treatments for other patients in the future.

GuARDS

The GuARDS study is looking to answer if dexamethasone treatment in patients with ARDS can save lives, reduce the need for extended ICU care, improve longer term patient quality of life and find the best value for the public and health services.

MOSAICC

the MOSAICC study is looking at the effect of administrating sodium bicarbonate to critically ill patients with acute kidney injury and a metabolic acidosis compared with usual treatment including renal replacement therapy.

OPTICAL

For young people with complex health needs, moving from paediatric to adult intensive care can be a particularly vulnerable time, especially as not enough is known about what makes this transition smoother for these patients and their families. OPTICAL aims to establish evidence supporting the development of clearer guidelines on ICU transition and improve the experiences of patients and their families. 

REMAP-CAP

The REMAP-CAP trial looks at the treatment for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in ITU patients. This is an adaptive trial which also has treatment domains for patients who have flu or COVID-19.

VIP3

VIP3 focuses on assessing communication between the intensive care team and the patient and/or their family. It concerns patients aged seventy-five years old and above, admitted to intensive care units across the UK.

 

How to get involved

Our Critical Care Research team cover three specialties: the Emergency Department (ED); anaesthetics, peri-operative, medicine and pain (APOMP) and intensive care (ITU), and have a successful portfolio of studies.

If you are interested in participating in research and would like some more information about the studies we are supporting, contact the Critical Care Research team at mtw-tr.criticalcare-research@nhs.net.

Previous research in intensive care

UNDERSTANDING PATIENTS’ RELATIVES’ ROLE IN ICU DECISION-MAKING (Decision Making)

Decision Making is looking at how patients' relatives or carers are involved with making decisions for the patient. By surveying patients’ relatives and carers, this project offers an opportunity to understand their role in each decision, especially in respect of potential conflict between decision-makers.

e-PICS

The e-PICS study is looking to find out more about PICS (Post Intensive Care Syndrome) symptoms that patients experience during their first few months after going home from an ICU or high-dependency unit stay. Monitoring these symptoms could help us identify patient rehabilitation needs earlier, so we can support patients better with their critical illness recovery.

Road to Recovery

The Road to Recovery study is seeking to gain a better understanding of the experiences of those who have been critically unwell and how this may impact thinking skills over time.

SIGNET

The SIGNET evaluated the benefits of a single dose of simvastatin given to potential organ donors to understand if the level of inflammation following the transplant can improve outcomes for the organ recipient.

The outcomes were published in the British Medical Journal.

UK ROX

The UK ROX study was a large-scale clinical trial trying to find out if using a lower oxygen saturation target (conservative oxygen therapy) to guide oxygen treatment might lead to better outcomes for patients compared with the approach currently used in ICUs (usual oxygen therapy).

Results have been published for this study.