[Guidelines for the capacity building and advancement of critical care medicine in China (2025 edition)].

Abstract

Critical care medicine (CCM) is a clinical discipline that focuses on the pathological mechanisms and comprehensive treatment of critically ill patients. The intensive care unit (ICU), as the clinical base of CCM, is responsible for implementing comprehensive management of critically ill patients throughout their entire care cycle, encompassing a series of integrated measures ranging from early warning to rehabilitation. Driven by national policy, the discipline achieved rapid advancement. In 2024, the National Health Commission and seven other ministries jointly issued the "Framework on Strengthening Critical Care Medical Service Capabilities", marking the discipline's entry into a high-quality development phase. Accordingly, the Chinese Society of Critical Care Medicine (CSCCM) formulated the"Guidelines for the capacity building and advancement of critical care medicine in China (2025 edition)". The guidelines focus on key aspects of discipline construction and development, covering nine areas: ICU infrastructure planning, professional staffing and technical competencies, equipment standardization, quality management, continuing education, scientific research, emergency preparedness, and service model innovation. The Recommendation development process involved initiation, literature retrieval and screening, and the synthesis of medical evidence to establish preliminary recommendations. These recommendations underwent multiple rounds of expert review, including correspondence review, remote and in-person meetings, revisions, and voting by the CSCCM Standing Committee, ultimately leading to the final version. The recommendations apply to ICUs in secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions and serve as a scientific framework for discipline planning, construction, and management, aiming to enhance the quality of critical care services.