Lay Description
Serious lung infections are a common problem. This research project will study how people with serious lung infections are cared for in intensive care units and what happens to them during and after their treatment. The regional study will focus on all types of severe respiratory tract infections treated in the ICUs across the Wessex region. We will use the information that is already available from different data bases from various hospitals to combine the data to provide a detailed information on the severity of lung infections, the treatment they received (such as ventilators or medicines to support their heart or kidneys) and whether they survived their stay in ICU or hospital. This will help to understand the burden of these infections locally and how care varies between hospitals. We will collect all available data to assess how patient can be best managed with severe respiratory tract infections and how this could be improved in the future.