Lecture Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on research activities. For many researchers, it led to constraints on research activities and a negative impact on research productivity - especially for early-career and female scientists- while for others, it provided an opportunity for academic growth. The scientific community witnessed an explosion of COVID-19 research, but high volume does not always translate into high quality. In addition to poorly designed and underpowered clinical trials, the concern that ethical principles were not being completely followed in some cases led to a strong response from the scientific community and a demand for prioritizing the ethical conduct of research during the pandemic. The response of the scientific community to the challenge of providing good-quality scientific answers to important clinical questions about COVID-19, despite the need to prioritize patient care in the face of successive case surges, was unprecedented. Collaborative efforts led to the development of national and international research networks and registries, and multicentric clinical trials, which provided epidemiological data to inform health systems organization and clinical data on effective treatments and vaccines.

Target Audience

Critical Care Doctors
Experienced Critical Care Nurses

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, you should be able to:

• Assess the impact of the pandemic on research and academic careers
• Recognize the importance of maintaining rigorous ethical standards during pandemics
• Leverage the implementation of research networks and registries to advance clinical research in critical care and provide high quality answers to important clinical questions across the globe

None.