Since 1990, ESICM has been committed to producing guidelines and consensus statements from colleagues within the society as well as in collaboration with other international societies to provide the best quality evidence for clinicians at the bedside. These manuscripts have been published in the journal Intensive Care Medicine and other leading journals (endorsement from ESICM does not imply automatic acceptance for publication in ICM journal).

If you wish to propose guidelines or consensus statements, please write to research@esicm.org and we will forward your request to the Chair of the Guidelines Group.

At the end of 2020, the ESICM Executive Committee decided to initiate the development of guidelines.  The society is fortunate enough to benefit from the expertise of renowned specialists and leaders in a substantial variety of topics in intensive care. Therefore it was decided to make a selection and to begin with four guidelines on ultrasound, antimicrobial, fluids and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Under development:

• Guideline about antimicrobial stewardship for severe infections and sepsis. The co-leaders are Jan De Waele (Ghent University Hospital, Belgium) and Garyphallia Poulakou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece). Development in progress.
• Guideline about fluid therapy in the ICU. The co-leaders are Daniel De Backer (CHIREC, Brussels, Belgium) and Morten Hyllander Møller  (University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark). Development in progress. (Part 1 published in 2024).
• ESICM Consensus Conference on shock diagnosis and haemodynamic monitoring in the ICU. The co-chairs are Michel Chew (University of Lund, Sweden) and Xavier Monnet (University of Paris Saclay, France).
• Transfusion Guideline part III – reversal of anticoagulants in the bleeding critically ill (A. Vlaar, Amsterdam, The Netherlands).
• Weaning from Mechanical ventilation (joint guideline with ERS) (co-chairs are John Laffey, Nicole Juffermans, Martin Dres, Paolo Navalesi)