The mission of the critical care team is relentlessly pushing the frontiers of clinical medicine in order to provide us with a better understanding of the critically ill patient and improve the overall survival of our patients. There are several key areas of research:
Clinical Trials
These trials may evaluate the impact of new mechanical interventions, medications, protocols, or pathways in order to provide superior outcomes to current care strategies. Clinical trials provide evidence-based information that can help to define care across the nation.
Septic Shock
Sepsis remains on the leading causes of mortality within the ICU. Our research in sepsis is primarily focused on early identification and recognition of the severity, rapid initiation of therapies and post care strategies to improve functional outcomes and survival in our patients.
Acute and Chronic Respiratory Failure
One of the most common practices in the ICU is providing mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure. Current research is focused on optimization of care pathways, minimization of ventilator associated complications, and early mobilization on the ventilator. Additional studies in the future will explore the use of biologics to improve outcomes in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and asthma.
Multi- Organ Support and Failure
Multi-organ failure is often a devastating complication of the primary illness; this has resulted in research focused on extracorporeal support for the heart and lungs as well as investigations in organ recovery and transplantation in critically ill patients who fail to recover.
Learn more about research at the Office of Research at Inova
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