Identifying clinical practice guidelines for symptom control in pediatric oncology

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Oncology
• Clinical Practice Guidelines
• Symptom Management

Background:

• Pediatric cancer patients frequently experience severe symptoms like pain and nausea.
• Clinical practice guideline-consistent care is linked to improved patient outcomes.
• A systematic process is needed to identify applicable symptom management guidelines for this population.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement a tiered process for identifying clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for symptom management in pediatric cancer patients.
• To ensure comprehensive coverage of 15 key symptoms relevant to this patient group.

Main Methods:

• A three-tiered approach was used to identify CPGs: Tier 1 (Children's Oncology Group endorsed), Tier 2 (specific reputable repositories/organizations), and Tier 3 (systematic review).
• Searches prioritized guidelines published between 2015-2020, with a fallback to 2010-2014 if needed.
• The process was applied to 15 common symptoms experienced by children with cancer.

Main Results:

• CPGs were identified for 14 out of 15 symptoms using the defined process.
• Six Tier 1 and 13 Tier 2 CPGs were found for the 2015-2020 period.
• A systematic review (Tier 3) was necessary for four symptoms, yielding CPGs for pain but not for anger.

Conclusions:

• A structured process successfully identified relevant clinical practice guidelines for most (14/15) pediatric cancer symptoms.
• The developed process is effective in locating supportive care CPGs for pediatric oncology.
• Future research should concentrate on implementing these CPGs and assessing their impact on patient and provider outcomes.