Research priorities for UK pediatric critical care in 2019 : healthcare professionals’ and parents’ perspectives

Tume, LN; Menzies, JC; Ray, S; Scholefield, BR

Abstract

Objective: The Paediatric Intensive Care Society Study Group conducted a research prioritization exercise with the aim to identify and agree research priorities in Pediatric Critical Care in the United Kingdom (UK) both from a healthcare professional (HCP) and parent/caregiver perspective.

Design: A modified three round e-Delphi survey, followed by a survey of parents of the top 20 HCP priorities

Setting: UK PICUs

Population: UK Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) HCP who are members of the professional society and parents and family members of children, with experience of a UK PICU admission

Interventions: None

Main outcome measures: A list of HCP and parent research priorities for PICU in the UK.

Results: Forty-nine HCP submitted topics in round one, 98 participated in round two and 102 in round three. These topics were categorized into eight broad domain areas, and within these there were 73 specific topics in round two. At round three, 18 topics had a mean score < 5.5 and were removed, leaving 55 topics for ranking in round three. Ninety-five parents and family members completed the surveys from at least 17 UK PICUs. Both parents and HCP prioritized research topics associated with the PICU workforce. HCP research priorities reflected issues which impacted on day to day management and practice. Parents’ prioritized research addressing acute situations such as infection identification of and sepsis management, or research addressing long term outcomes for children and parents after critical illness. Parents prioritized research into longer term outcomes more than HCP. Parental responses showed clear support for the concept of research in PICU, but few novel research questions were proposed.

Conclusion: This is the first research prioritization exercise within UK PICU setting to include parents and families’ perspectives and compare these to HCP. Results will guide both funders and future researchers.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 8, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Dec 24, 2020
• Publication Date: May 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Nov 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 24, 2021
• Journal: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
• Print ISSN: 1529-7535
• Electronic ISSN: 1947-3893
• Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 5
• Pages: e294-e301
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000002647
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1097/PCC.0000000000002647
• Related Public URLs: http://www.pccmjournal.com/