Pediatric Hospital Care Research Priorities Within a Regional Whole-of-Life Health Service: Established Through...

This study is aimed at establishing the top research priorities in pediatric hospital care that are relevant and meaningful to local pediatric consumers and healthcare professionals to optimize local service outcomes.

This study adopted a modified consensus-based research priority-setting design, utilizing James Lind Alliance (JLA) methodology led by a steering committee comprising consumers (parents, carers, and previous patients) and healthcare professionals. The study was conducted at a regional Australian tertiary hospital providing whole-of-life health services from April 2023 to June 2024. The six-stage study design consisted of (1) initiation, (2) consultation, (3) collation, (4) interim ranking, (5) final priority setting, and (6) dissemination.

Equal representation of consumers and healthcare professionals was achieved during the priority-setting processes, with active consumer partnership during research design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination phases. A total of 104 unique research submissions were generated through the harvesting survey (n = 104), and following screening and synthesis, 21 indicative research uncertainties were identified. Following interim prioritization (n = 110) and final refinement through a consensus workshop (n = 24), the Top 5 pediatric research priorities were established: reducing healthcare-related trauma, upscaling pediatric-centered support strategies and infrastructure, enhancing effective communication, enhancing adolescent and young adult services, and improving efficiency and care as children move through a whole-of-life health service.

These research priorities align with those of other international pediatric healthcare services while highlighting unique local contextual differences. Notably, reducing trauma associated with healthcare experiences emerged as a central priority. Our modified JLA approach appears to be an effective framework for engaging research end-users in establishing relevant and meaningful research priorities tailored to local health-service needs. Future initiatives should continue to ensure consumers are active coinvestigators to ensure outcomes remain patient-centered and community-focused.