Grant: Project Grant

Healthcare systems need to more consistently incorporate findings from research into patient care. With the amount of research in the current medical literature, and limited resources available to apply this research, some research findings should be given higher priority over others. This is especially important for patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) where multiple expensive, potentially risky tests, and treatments are used to save lives. In a review of ICU research, we identified 14 medical practices that high-quality research suggests are beneficial among ICU patients, and 21 practices that are of no benefit. Decision-makers for ICUs in Alberta have asked us to use this list of 35 ICU practices to develop a method that can both determine from within a list of current research which ICU care practices should be given greater priority for use or removal from patient care, and allows for annual updating of the list by being responsive to new research. We plan to do this in 4 connected steps, guided by a governing group consisting of patients, researchers, and healthcare providers. First, we will develop a method that enables our review of ICU research to be continuously updated in response to new research. Second, using electronic health data, we will determine predicted outcomes and costs associated with changes in use of each practice. Third, we will survey a national group of healthcare providers and former ICU patients and their family members to rank priorities for practice change. Fourth, we will present the results of steps 1-3 to decision-makers in Alberta to determine which patient care practices will be targets for practice change in Alberta ICUs. This work is important because it will help improve care in ICUs, and potentially contribute to future improvements in other areas of healthcare through development of a strong, widely applicable, sustainable approach for incorporating high-quality science into the care of patients admitted to ICUs.