Program seeks Council approval for a project entitled the “Pediatric Critical Care Conferences Initiative.” Given the relatively small and vastly heterogeneous patient population, conducting meaningful clinical research to advance care for critically ill children is challenging. Additionally, the available workforce to address the many research needs is limited by the competing demands of this clinically intense field. The use of conferences that convene experts from diverse disciplines and multiple centers have proven effective in advancing a few key areas of pediatric critical care including the acute respiratory distress syndrome.
However, there exists an extensive number of other conditions and therapies that are still in need of a multidisciplinary research framework to inform care. Although infrastructure and networking are developing within this relatively nascent field, the current landscape of meetings and conferences does not provide the opportunity and resources for in-depth and concentrated discourse by multiple disciplines on key conditions and therapies. To stimulate the fields in pediatric critical care, it is critical that the Institute provide opportunities to support and convene nationally recognized, multidisciplinary experts to overcome these challenges and advance the field.
The objective of the initiative is to inform care and to facilitate research for major issues in pediatric critical care medicine through the use of broad-based, national conferences. It is hoped that such conferences will foster collaboration among different clinical disciplines, professional organizations, NIH Institutes and geographically and culturally diverse institutions.
The proposed concept is well aligned with several of the NICHD Vision priority areas, but perhaps most notably with the “Conduct of Science.” There, it calls for "the support of multidisciplinary group sabbaticals, ‘transdisciplinary incubators,’ and other innovative programs that set aside dedicated time and space for scientists from different disciplines to learn from each other and to frame and solve problems jointly."
This proposed initiative affords the opportunity to advance all Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch research priorities related to the pediatric critical care portfolio including the support of research that: 1) examines the ways in which treatments in the intensive care unit for adults can be modified to address the unique needs of children; 2) fosters collaborations among multidisciplinary teams of research scientists and allied health professionals to address research gaps and disparities in health outcomes among traumatized, injured, and critically ill children; and 3) advances our understanding and treatment of the multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in children.
Program Contact
Robert Tamburro
Pediatric Trauma and Critical Illness Branch
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