Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network

Help expand critical care research and improve patient outcomes.

Discovery fosters collaborative research to improve outcomes for critically ill and injured patients and seeks to incorporate findings into practice using SCCM's broad base of programs.

Get Started By Submitting Your Proposals

Learn more about Clinical Investigator Proposals and Discovery Clinical Investigators Meetings.

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Discovery Activities

Find a list of the current Endorsed Projects, Discovery Programs, and published works.

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Discovery Resources

Explore services and resources to assist in research including data storage, management and analysis, Central IRB services, and project management.

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Discovery on SCCM Connect

Connect with like-minded research peers and join the Research Knowledge Education Group (KEG) for access to complete resources.

Join the Research KEG

Apply for Research Grants

Several opportunities are available for those seeking research funding.

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Discovery Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study COVID-19 Registry

The Discovery Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study (VIRUS) COVID-19 is a registry of current hospital care patterns that allows evaluation of safety and observational effectiveness of COVID-19 practices and determination of variations in practice across hospitals.

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Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – Preparedness

SARI-PREP is a multicenter consortium funded by the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is being assembled with the goal of providing the infrastructure to rapidly collect prospective data on clinical risks and outcomes, hospital-level stress, and biologic specimens that will aid in the rapid development of diagnostic and treatment approaches.

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Discovery Collaborations

ACR-SCCM VIRUS Collaborative

The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Center for Research and Innovation (CRI) has partnered with SCCM, serving as the overall imaging repository for the VIRUS COVID-19 Registry. The ACR CRI is collecting all diagnostic images for the VIRUS COVID-19 Registry, creating a link between the images and clinical data collected by SCCM and archiving the images to make them accessible to participating sites and interested researchers. For more information please contact: virusimaging@acr.org

STOP-VIRUS ICU Learning Collaborative

The STOP-VIRUS Collaborative is a limited-time network of intensive care units focused on improving outcomes for patients with COVID-19. This learning collaborative focuses on interventions aimed at reducing marked variations in the outcomes of critically ill patients unexplained by demographics, comorbidities, and severity of illness.

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Latest from the Critical Connections Blog

Improving Post-ICU Stay Outcomes: How SCCM’s Discovery Grant Helped Establish an NIH-Funded Study
Paul E. Wischmeyer, MD, EDIC, FASPEN, FCCM, has a highly personal understanding of the challenges of recovering from an intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Diagnosed at age 15 with ulcerative colitis, his colon was removed when it perforated and caused septic peritonitis. Throughout his life, he has had 27 major surgeries and multiple ICU stays for bowel resections after bowel obstructions or to address complications from recurrent intestinal obstructions. These experiences have motivated his research to test a personalized, remotely monitored, coached exercise program to help patients recover after ICU discharge.
Posted: 12/2/2022 | 0 comments | Discovery, PICS, Quality

Discovery and SARI-PREP Have Roles in Preparing for Next Pathogen Outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major gaps in the U.S. healthcare system, prompting the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) to form the National Special Pathogen System of Care (NSPS) to prepare the country for the next large-scale outbreak. Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, and its Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – Preparedness (SARI-PREP) program are helping lead the way in this new vision. SARI-PREP is a key player in the effort to establish a coordinated and standardized healthcare network that provides high-quality care to parents with a special pathogen, while also protecting healthcare workers.
Posted: 10/14/2022 | 0 comments | COVID-19, Discovery Research Network, SARI-PREP

Five Years of Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network
Several years before the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted healthcare worldwide, the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) launched a task force to identify gaps in critical care research and determine how SCCM could address them. Within two years, this effort led to the establishment of Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, and the timing could not have been more fortuitous.
Posted: 4/7/2022 | 0 comments | Discovery Research Network

SARI-PREP Research Collaborative Aims To Revolutionize the Future
Groundbreaking study of hospitalized COVID-19 and influenza patients charts new path in critical care research

Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – Preparedness (SARI-PREP) is a groundbreaking new research platform from SCCM’s Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, that is leading the way in revolutionizing how critical care research is conducted in the United States. It will inform clinical management of patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and help ensure that health systems are better prepared for future pandemics.
Posted: 10/8/2021 | 0 comments | COVID-19, Discovery Research Network

Discovery VIRUS Registry Outcomes and STOP-VIRUS ICU Learning Collaborative
The first outcomes of VIRUS were recently published in Critical Care Medicine. More than 20 manuscripts are being prepared for publication during the next several months. Additionally, sites have been invited to submit ancillary study ideas drawing on registry data. Of the 150 proposed, more than 60 have been approved.

Join the registry today and contribute to this important data collection.
Posted: 2/19/2021 | 0 comments | Coronavirus, COVID-19, Discovery Research Network, Statistics