Emergency and Critical Care Research

The two eligible trials included in the ENHANCE survey were PRONTO (procalcitonin-supported sepsis assessment) and UK-ROX (conservative vs usual oxygen therapy). ENHANCE findings align with paediatric emergency research, where professionals initially feared negative parental reactions but found responses were often positive when lack of prior consent was clearly explained. Most emergency and critical care research protocols currently lack a clear pathway for informing bereaved relatives when a patient took part before death. Emergency and critical care research is essential for improving treatment but faces major consent challenges due to patient incapacity and time-critical interventions. Excluding the sickest patients from research trials would introduce bias and weaken study validity.