Research priorities for intensive care: A stakeholder-informed priority-setting partnership.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to identify and prioritise unanswered research questions in intensive care through a stakeholder-driven priority-setting partnership involving clinicians and consumers.

DESIGN

Structured collaborative consultation using a modified James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership approach. The process included five stages: initiation, consultation, collation, interim prioritisation, and a final consensus workshop. Submissions were collated into indicative questions, refined and shortlisted by the study team, and ranked in an interim prioritisation survey. Final priorities were determined through an in-person workshop using a modified nominal group technique.

SETTING

Queensland Critical Care Research Network, a statewide intensive care research network in Queensland, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Clinicians working in intensive care and consumers with lived experience of intensive care as patients or family members.

INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable.

RESULTS

Fifty-five participants submitted 136 research questions, which were consolidated into 76 indicative questions and subsequently shortlisted to 30 for interim prioritisation. Eighty-three participants completed the ranking survey. Sixteen stakeholders (clinicians and consumers) participated in the final workshop, resulting in consensus on 12 priority research questions. Key priorities included clinical and technology-enabled decision-making, survivorship and recovery, workforce and systems of care, and delirium prevention. Consumer partnership and implementation were identified as overarching principles underpinning future research.

CONCLUSIONS

These priorities provide a stakeholder-informed foundation for future intensive care research, supporting collaborative research programs, funding strategies, and meaningful researcher-clinician-consumer partnerships.