TY - JOUR

T1 - Determining the top research priorities in UK prehospital critical care: a modified Delphi study

AU - PreHOspital Trainee Operated research Network (PHOTON)

AU - Ramage, Lisa

AU - McLachlan, Sarah

AU - Williams, Kristian

AU - Bell, Steve

AU - Bird, Flora

AU - Carley, Simon

AU - Chan, Louisa

AU - Clutton, David

AU - Cowan, Stephanie

AU - Creed, Matthew

AU - Dungay, David

AU - Folley, Sarah

AU - Leech, Caroline

AU - Hughes, Amy

AU - Lang, Nigel

AU - Major, Rob

AU - MacKenzie, Roderick

AU - Perkins, Zane

AU - Phillipson, Laurie

AU - Plumb, James

AU - Rawlinson, David

AU - Taylor, Matthew

AU - Thomas, Glyn

AU - Tucker, Harriet

AU - Raitt, James

AU - Rallan, Rishi

AU - Smith, Andy

AU - Walsh, Simon

N1 - © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

PY - 2023/4

Y1 - 2023/4

N2 - Background: Prehospital critical care is a rapidly evolving field. There is a paucity of evidence relating to its practice, with limited progress in answering those research questions identified over a decade ago. It is vital that evidence gaps are identified and addressed. This study aimed to define the current research priorities in UK prehospital critical care. Methods: This modified national Delphi study was coordinated by the Pre-HOspital Trainee Operated research Network and conducted in four rounds between October 2021 and April 2022. Rounds 1 and 2 were conducted online with clinicians involved in prehospital critical care delivery and non-clinical prehospital researchers. Rounds 3 and 4 were completed online by a subject matter expert (SME) panel. Results: In round 1, 78 participants submitted 394 research questions relating to prehospital critical care delivery in the UK. These were refined and categorised into 192 questions, which were scored for importance in round 2. Fifty questions were discussed and scored by the SME panel in round 3. Round 4 created a ranked top 20 list. The top research priority was ‘Which cardiac arrest patients should critical care teams be dispatched to; how do we identify these patients during the emergency call?’. Other priorities included dispatch optimisation, out-of-hospital medical cardiac arrest management, optimising resuscitation in haemorrhagic shock, improving traumatic brain injury outcomes and optimising management of traumatic cardiac arrest. Conclusions: This modified Delphi study identified 20 research priorities where efforts should be concentrated to develop collaborative prehospital critical care research within the UK over the next 5 years.

AB - Background: Prehospital critical care is a rapidly evolving field. There is a paucity of evidence relating to its practice, with limited progress in answering those research questions identified over a decade ago. It is vital that evidence gaps are identified and addressed. This study aimed to define the current research priorities in UK prehospital critical care. Methods: This modified national Delphi study was coordinated by the Pre-HOspital Trainee Operated research Network and conducted in four rounds between October 2021 and April 2022. Rounds 1 and 2 were conducted online with clinicians involved in prehospital critical care delivery and non-clinical prehospital researchers. Rounds 3 and 4 were completed online by a subject matter expert (SME) panel. Results: In round 1, 78 participants submitted 394 research questions relating to prehospital critical care delivery in the UK. These were refined and categorised into 192 questions, which were scored for importance in round 2. Fifty questions were discussed and scored by the SME panel in round 3. Round 4 created a ranked top 20 list. The top research priority was ‘Which cardiac arrest patients should critical care teams be dispatched to; how do we identify these patients during the emergency call?’. Other priorities included dispatch optimisation, out-of-hospital medical cardiac arrest management, optimising resuscitation in haemorrhagic shock, improving traumatic brain injury outcomes and optimising management of traumatic cardiac arrest. Conclusions: This modified Delphi study identified 20 research priorities where efforts should be concentrated to develop collaborative prehospital critical care research within the UK over the next 5 years.

KW - Original research

KW - 1506

KW - pre-hospital care

KW - advanced practitioner

KW - doctors in PHC

U2 - 10.1136/emermed-2022-212622

DO - 10.1136/emermed-2022-212622

M3 - Article

C2 - 36650041

VL - 40

SP - 271

EP - 276

JO - Emergency Medicine Journal

JF - Emergency Medicine Journal

SN - 1472-0205

IS - 4

ER -