Multidisciplinary Epidemiology and Translational Research in Intensive Care, Emergency and Perioperative Medicine (METRIC)

Overview

At Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., the Multidisciplinary Epidemiology and Translational Research in Intensive Care (METRIC) research group works to decrease complications and improve outcomes for critically ill patients through systematic research and quality improvement.

Acute critical illness is complex. Different factors — such as underlying disease or injury, physiological impairments, and patient predispositions — interact closely with multiple life support interventions, organizational factors, and patient and provider preferences.

METRIC continuously observes the clinical courses and outcomes of critically ill patients and uses basic epidemiological principles to identify potentially beneficial or harmful practices. METRIC also takes advantage of medical informatics and electronic medical records to facilitate the implementation of best practices and improve the quality of care in the intensive care unit (ICU) in a cost-effective manner.

Sophisticated data retrieval and analysis techniques allow METRIC to search for new knowledge regarding disease mechanisms and the response of the human body to acute illness or injury.

METRIC is engaged in projects related to the:

• Modeling of critical care syndromes, life support interventions and patient-important outcomes
• Perioperative critical care, trauma and transfusions
• Science of health care delivery and informatics

Research is done in partnership with:

• Mayo Clinic collaborators in the Anesthesia Clinical Research Unit, Division of Transfusion Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Thoracic Diseases Research Unit and Department of Health Sciences Research
• Several national and international groups, including the U.S. Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Network, International Study on Mechanical Ventilation, Philips Research North America and the University of Amsterdam and many university medical centers worldwide.

This laboratory is a 2012 recipient of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Health Care Innovation Award "Patient-centric electronic environment for improving acute care performance."