The Design of Randomized Clinical Trials in Critically Ill Patients

There are a number of difficulties in the conduct of randomized trials in the critically ill. These include difficulties in the definition of diseases and syndromes, a heterogenous population of patients undergoing a variety of therapeutic interventions, and outcomes that may not be able to discriminate between beneficial and risky therapies. Following a brief description of different randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and design philosophies, …