A Core Outcome Measurement Set for Pediatric Critical Care

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
• Outcomes Research
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Standardized outcome measurement is crucial for evaluating care quality and effectiveness in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs).
• Existing outcome measures may lack generalizability or fail to capture the full spectrum of patient and family experiences post-PICU.
• The development of a Pediatric Core Outcome Set (PICU COS) necessitates a corresponding Core Outcome Measurement Set (PICU COMS).

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify a Pediatric Core Outcome Measurement Set (PICU COMS).
• To establish a standardized set of measures for evaluating Pediatric Core Outcome Set (PICU COS) domains in PICU patients and their families.
• To facilitate comparability across research studies and inform interventions targeting long-term outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A modified Delphi consensus process was employed.
• Webinars were conducted with 35 international PICU physicians, nurses, surgeons, rehabilitation physicians, and scientists.
• Measures were evaluated for generalizability, feasibility, and relevance to PICU COS domains.

Main Results:

• 140 candidate measures were assessed, leading to the selection of 24 general measures.
• 10 measures achieved high consensus (≥80% agreement) for inclusion in the PICU COMS: 7 patient-oriented and 3 family-oriented.
• Six patient measures demonstrated broad applicability across diverse pediatric populations, diagnoses, and abilities, with validation and normative data.

Conclusions:

• The developed PICU COMS provides a standardized approach to measuring outcomes in PICU patients and families.
• This set of measures will enhance the comparability of future research studies on PICU survivorship.
• The PICU COMS will support interventional studies focused on improving long-term outcomes following pediatric critical illness.