Background

There is a mismatch between research questions, which are considered to be important by patients, carers, and healthcare professionals and the research performed in many fields of medicine. We found no relevant studies which have assessed research priorities in healthcare-associated infections that have involved patients’ and carers’ opinions.

Aim

The Healthcare-Associated Infections (HCAI) Priority Setting Partnership was established to identify top research priorities in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of HCAI in the UK, taking into account the opinions of all these groups.

Methods

The methods broadly followed the principles of James Lind Alliance (JLA) priority setting activity.

Findings

259 unique valid research questions were identified from 221 valid responses to a consultation of patients, carers and healthcare professionals after seeking their opinions for research priorities. The steering committee of the Partnership rationalised these to 50 unique questions. A literature review established that for these questions there were no recent high-quality systematic reviews, high-quality systematic reviews which concluded that further studies were necessary, or the steering committee considered that further research was required despite the conclusions of recent systematic reviews. An interim survey ranked the 50 questions and, from the top 32, 10 top research priorities were identified by consensus at a final priority setting workshop of patients, carers and healthcare professionals using group discussions.

Conclusions

A priority-setting process using JLA methods and principles involving patients, carers and healthcare professionals was used to identify top 10 priority areas for research related to HCAI. To address these uncertainties basic, translational, clinical, and public health research would be required.

中文翻译：

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英国医疗相关感染的首要研究重点

背景

在患者，护理人员和医疗保健专业人员认为重要的研究问题与在许多医学领域进行的研究之间存在不匹配。我们发现没有相关研究评估涉及患者和护理人员意见的医疗保健相关感染的研究重点。

目的

建立了与医疗保健相关的感染（HCAI）优先事项确定合作伙伴关系，目的是在考虑到所有这些团体的意见后，确定英国在HCAI的预防，诊断和治疗中的首要研究优先事项。

方法

这些方法大致遵循詹姆斯·林德联盟（JLA）优先级设置活动的原则。

发现

在征求患者，护理人员和医疗保健专业人员对研究重点的意见后，从221份对患者，护理人员和医疗保健专业人员进行咨询的有效回答中，确定了259个独特的有效研究问题。伙伴关系指导委员会将这些问题合理化为50个独特的问题。文献综述表明，对于这些问题，近期没有高质量的系统评价，高质量的系统评价没有结论，需要进一步的研究，或者指导委员会认为，尽管最近的系统评价得出结论，仍需要进一步的研究。一项中期调查对这50个问题进行了排名，并通过小组讨论在患者，护理人员和医疗保健专业人员的最终优先事项确定研讨会上以共识的方式确定了前32个问题中的10个首要研究优先事项。

结论

使用涉及患者，护理人员和医疗保健专业人员的JLA方法和原则进行优先级确定过程，以确定与HCAI相关的研究的十大优先领域。为了解决这些不确定性，将需要基础，转化，临床和公共卫生研究。