- Health Topics
- The Science
- Grants and Training
- News and Events
- About NHLBI
NHLBI convened a workshop to discuss opportunities and needs for implementation science research in critical care. Critical illness is an important public health problem. There are more than 5 million intensive care unit admissions each year in the United States. Morbidity, mortality, and costs associated with critical illness are extremely high, with mortality for critical illness syndromes such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe sepsis of up to 50%. NHLBI has a strong interest in critical care research for heart, lung, and blood diseases and a long history of supporting basic and clinical critical care research including efficacy studies.
Data show that evidence-based practices in critical care known to improve patient outcomes often are not implemented in clinical practice. Implementation science is a growing field that can enhance the translation of evidence into practice. The goal of this workshop was to examine gaps and opportunities for implementation science research in critical care.
The workshop included presentations of completed and ongoing implementation research in critical care, presentations on methods and study designs for implementation science research, and discussion of the research gaps and priorities for critical care implementation science. Workshop attendees included experts in critical care, implementation science, and nursing as well as representatives from NIH and other HHS agencies.