27 Sep AIGHD joins project seeking to improve care and outcomes for critically ill patients

An AIGHD researcher is lending his expertise to help improve care for critically ill patients in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr. Christopher Pell, Postdoctoral researcher at AIGHD [bottom left in photo], is participating in a recently launched multi-country network of intensive care units across South and South East Asia.

The project, led by the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok and supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust’s Innovations Flagship Programme will bring together 42 ICUs from nine countries.

“We know that in many low- and middle-income countries, patient data isn’t collected in intensive care units, making it difficult to determine how sick patients are, what interventions have been done and where to best allocate resources,” said Dr. Pell. “The development and evaluation of a formal registry will provide much-needed insight into patient care and inform local quality improvement interventions with the ultimate goal of ensuring patients receive the best care.”

As part of the project, a locally adapted electronic registry will be implemented and used – along with qualitative research methods – to evaluate the quality of care provided in the ICUs. Dr. Pell, a social scientist with a background in medical anthropology, joins a multi-disciplinary team of critical care physicians, and health systems specialists as part of the five-year project. In his specific role, he will assist the qualitative research that examines registry implementation and the social, cultural and health system factors that influence the quality of care in participating ICUs.

For more information on the project, click here.