Patient and public involvement and engagement in critical care clinical research: A review

Across the world, there is increasing recognition of the importance of engaging with and involving patients, family members, and members of the public in the design, delivery, and dissemination of clinical research. This reflects the value of grounding research in lived experience, thereby ensuring the relevance and integrity of the research. In this review paper, we seek to provide an up-to-date review of patient and public involvement and engagement in critical care clinical research. Our review is informed by a targeted MEDLINE search and author experience, including that of a critical care patient research collaborator. We start by providing a definition of patient and public involvement and describe its uptake in critical care research across the world. We describe how patients, family members, and members of the public are now increasingly becoming involved in critical care research through setting the research agenda (e.g., through research priority setting exercises), in making research funding and regulatory decisions, and as key collaborators in the design, delivery, and dissemination of individual research projects. We highlight the opportunity for improved reporting of this involvement and engagement in study reports. Finally, we identify potential barriers to patient and public involvement and engagement in critical care research before identifying solutions by drawing on personal expertise and published evidence.