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(Circulation. 1995;91:1-7.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Task Force on Research in Cardiopulmonary Dysfunction in Critical Care Medicine

Claude Lenfant, MD

From the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Md.

	Introduction

 
Critical care medicine is a multidisciplinary treatment approach that involves such specialties as anesthesiology, internal medicine, pediatrics, and surgery and is usually practiced in the hospital intensive care unit (ICU). The concept of delivering specialized, technologically sophisticated care within a dedicated setting originated with the postoperative recovery room of the post–World War II era and rapidly gained acceptance with the appearance of the first coronary care units in the early 1960s. Over the past several decades, ICUs have become standard features in hospitals across the United States.

The US House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations highlighted critical care medicine as a special area of interest and concern in its report on the fiscal year 1993 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services. Noting that critical care costs account for about 28% of total acute care hospital costs, the Committee encouraged the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) ". . . to consider the potential benefits to society of enhanced research on effective practices and treatments in this technology-dependent field."

To identify new opportunities and chart a course for future research efforts, the NHLBI in 1993 convened a Task Force on Research in Cardiopulmonary Dysfunction in Critical Care Medicine. Composed of national experts in basic, clinical, and population-based research, the task force was charged to review the state of knowledge of cardiopulmonary dysfunction and care in critical care medicine over the past 5 years and develop a comprehensive plan, including scientific priorities, for NHLBI support of critical care . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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