重症医学科患者病死率、致残率较高。为改善临床治疗效果，降低患者病死率、致残率，研究者对临床工作中遇到的问题展开大规模的实验研究。这种"床边-实验室-床边"模式被称为转化医学。这种医学转化研究在"患者-研究动物-患者"方法中让我们对许多疾病更加深入了解，包括呼吸机相关损伤、脓毒血症发病机制及治疗、全身性感染相关免疫功能的改变。一些医学转化研究的结果能够满足重症医学的临床需要，但在应用于临床的过程中也遇到许多困难。鉴于临床状况的复杂性是临床及临床前期研究的内在缺陷，所以在将实验研究结果应用临床时需要考虑到这一点。虽然从实验室到临床的转化是一个漫长的过程，但这是重症医学发展的方向，这一策略能够优化医疗支出并且改进临床的治疗效果。

The high mortality rate and morbidity in critically ill patients have prompted an intense research activity where clinical observations and questions are addressed in experimental research and then help improve bedside practice. The research module of bedside-bench-bedside is the so-called translational approach. There are excellent examples of translational research including the human-to-animal-to-human approach to address ventilator-induced lung injury, the animal-to-human approach to examine the mechanisms and testing therapies of sepsis, and the human-to-animal approach for sepsis-induced immune alteration. The translational research could be fulfilled in the bedside management of critically ill patients but also the hurdles to translate such achievements into clinical practice. Due to the inherent limitations existing in clinical and preclinical studies, the complexity of clinical situations should be taken into account when the preclinical discoveries are being translated into the development of novel therapeutic strategies for critically ill patients. There is a long way to go but a bench-to-bedside transition is the right direction and will facilitate a long term robust strategy that is economically feasible and clinically effective to manage critically ill patients.