Severe illness getting noticed sooner – SIGNS-for-Kids: developing an illness recognition tool to connect home and hospital

[摘要] Background Delays to definitive treatment for timesensitive acute paediatric illnesses continue to be acause of death and disability in the Canadian healthcaresystem. Our aim was to develop the SIGNS-for-Kids illnessrecognition tool to empower parents and other communitycaregivers to recognise the signs and symptoms of severeillness in infants and children. The goal of the tool isimproved detection and reduced time to treatment of acuteconditions that require emergent medical attention.Methods A single-day consensus workshop consistingof a 17-member panel of parents and multidisciplinaryhealthcare experts with content expertise and/orexperience managing children with severe acute illnesseswas held. An a priori agreement of ≥85% was planned forthe final iteration SIGNS-for-Kids tool elements by the endof the workshop.Results One hundred percent consensus was achievedon a five-item tool distilled from 20 initial items atthe beginning of the consensus workshop. The finalitems included four child-based items consisting of: (1)behaviour, (2) breathing, (3) skin, and (4) fluids, and onecontext-based item and (5) response to rescue treatments.Conclusions Specific cues of urgent child illness wereidentified as part of this initial development phase. Thesecues were integrated into a comprehensive tool designedfor parents and other lay caregivers to recognise the signsof serious acute illness and initiate medical attention in anundifferentiated population of infants and children. Futurevalidation and optimisation of the tool are planned.

[学科分类] 药学