Get over it 2021: A vision of enhanced recovery after critical illness

Penelope qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2008 and is a specialist in critical care and neurology.  Penelope also holds a bachelor of science in psychology and completed the European Masters of Science in Occupational Therapy in 2019. Penelope is clinical lead Occupational Therapist at King’s College Hospital in London.  Penelope leads a large team of occupational therapists providing occupational rehabilitation for patients in critical care units at the trust. Penelope is passionate about promoting good quality recovery from critical illness and the role of occupational therapy in this.  Penelope completed her master research exploring patient’s experience of occupation during critical illness and has published with the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s THRIVE collaborative regarding the importance of critical care follow-up. Penelope continues to be active in research in the UK and works nationally to enhance the role of occupational therapy and promote the importance of occupation during critical illness recovery.

Danielle obtained her Nutrition and Dietetics degree at the University of Wollongong and after working for a short time in Sydney, she moved to London and has been the Principal Critical Care Dietitian at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust(GSTT)for the last 10 years. Danielle was one of two dietitians on the trial management group for the CALORIES Trial and she has recently completed prestigious Health Education England / National Institute for Health Research (HEE/NIHR)Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship where she is exploring the measurement and prevention of skeletal muscle wasting during critical illness and the effect on recovery.

Dr Jackie McRae is a Consultant Speech and Language Therapist with over 30 years’ experience working with patients with complex dysphagia in intensive care units. Her research interests focus on optimising the multi-professional management of acute cervical spinal cord injury patients with early interventions. She has had two NIHR funded research awards and developed best practice recommendations based on international consensus to enhance respiratory management, dysphagia care and nutritional support and improve clinical and quality of life outcomes. In her academic role, she mentors, supervises and supports allied health professionals on their research journey. During the first wave of the COVID pandemic, she worked at NHS Nightingale and continued her clinical work at UCLH. She is involved in national and international groups focusing on the clinical management of this novel disease and its impact on laryngeal functions.

Dr Bronwen Connolly is a critical care physiotherapist, and Senior Lecturer in Critical Care at Queen’s University Belfast, UK.  The recipient of three previous NIHR Fellowships (Doctoral, Postdoctoral, Clinical Trials), her research interests focus on acute respiratory and rehabilitation physiotherapy, the recovery, long-term outcome, and survivorship of post critical illness patients, and clinical trial methodology around complex rehabilitation interventions.  Dr Connolly is the Chief Investigator of the MARCH trial, a large, NIHR-funded, multi-centre, randomized controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of mucoactive drugs in acute respiratory failure.  Her other work includes the development of a core outcome set for trials of physical rehabilitation in critical illness (PRACTICE).  Bronwen is also a co-investigator on the NIHR-funded RECOVERY-Respiratory Support trial studying the effectiveness of CPAP, high-flow nasal oxygen, and standard oxygen therapy in patients with COVID-19.

Joanne’s principle research interest is related to long term outcomes following critical illness.  Specifically, she is focussed on how the social determinants of health influence recovery in this group. Joanne is actively engaged in working with patients, carers and the lay public in the design, execution and dissemination of research activities. She has set up various patient forums and has published and held research grants with patients and caregivers.  Her work has informed Scottish Government policy, including the CMO (Scotland) Realising Realistic Medicine annual report and the Scottish Government’s Health Literacy Action Plan.   Joanne has also recently led the development of an international white paper examining the use of peer support as a mechanism to support recovery in critically ill patients. Joanne, alongside Dr Tara Quasim, has led the development implementation, scale-up, and evaluation of the Intensive Care Syndrome: Promoting Independence and Return to Employment (InS:PIRE) programme in Scotland over the last five years.  This innovative programme has received a number of awards including the BMJ Innovation into Practice Award (2016).  She also leads an international collaboration aimed at improving long term outcomes for patients and caregivers following critical illness (@CAIROrg). At present, Joanne is PI on a number of national and international studies and collaborates with colleagues from Australia, the USA and Canada. Joanne was awarded the Society of Critical Care Medicine Presidential Citation Award (2018 and 2019) for services to the critical care community.

Tim Walsh is Director of Research & Innovation for NHS Lothian, and Health Innovation South East Scotland. He is also Professor of Critical Care at the University of Edinburgh and Honorary Consultant in Critical Care at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. He is Head of the Academic Dept of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, and Co-director of Acute Care Edinburgh a multidisciplinary research grouping in the University of Edinburgh Usher Institute. Tim leads a multidisciplinary clinical research group with interests including transfusion medicine, sedation in the critically ill, recovery from critical illness and the epidemiology and prevention of ICU acquired infection. He has a particular interest in large pragmatic clinical trials, complex health intervention trials, and the evaluation of novel diagnostics and technologies in acute care. He is a past Chairman of the NIHR UK Critical Care Research Network and UK Critical Care Research Group.

Professor Louise Rose, RN, PhD is a Professor of Nursing at King’s College London, UK and an honorary Professor in Critical Care and the Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. She has recently moved from Toronto, Canada where she was an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and the Research Director for the Provincial Centre of Weaning Excellence at the Michal Garron Hospital. Her research program focuses on improving outcomes and the healthcare experience of mechanically ventilated patients across the care continuum from the emergency department, intensive care unit, specialized weaning centre and in the home. In addition, she has extensive clinical experience in critical care nursing including bedside, managerial and clinical education roles incorporating cardiothoracic, paediatric and trauma specialty units, as well medical and surgical intensive care units. Since commencing her research career she has been awarded 90 peer reviewed research grants and has over 160 peer reviewed publications.