In a joint effort with Cochrane Pre-hospital and Emergency Care, Cochrane Emergency & Critical Care, Cochrane Anaesthesia, and contributors from the former Cochrane Injuries Review Group, we conducted a comprehensive priority exercise. The aim of this exercise was to pinpoint the most important topics in emergency and critical care to ensure that future Cochrane systematic reviews in this field remain both relevant and impactful. 

Key topics were identified by means of a survey that was distributed among a broad range of stakeholders, including patients, healthcare professionals, policy-makers, and the general public. A final list of priority topics was established through a consensus procedure, taking into account the (gaps in) existing evidence, the timeliness of each topic, the feasibility of conducting systematic reviews on each topic, and the potential to significantly improve patient care and health system efficiency.

The identified priorities covered:

• Organizational interventions: e.g. ways to prevent overcrowding in emergency departments, and burnout prevention among healthcare professionals;
• Behavioral and mental health: e.g. anxiety, delirium, and (attempted) suicide;
• Critical care and resuscitation: e.g. optimizing interventions in the Intensive Care Unit, cardiac arrest, and shock;
• Clinical conditions: e.g. poisoning, crisis in pregnancy, and prehospital birth;
• Education and training: e.g. first aid training. 

Read more about the process and look at the full list of priority topics here.