Good Practice Concepts in Pediatric Critical Care Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Modified Delphi Consensus Initiative.
Document Type
Editorial
Publication Date
2-1-2026
Identifier
DOI: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000003881
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: We assembled a workgroup within the Pediatric Research Collaborative on Critical UltraSound (PeRCCUS), a subgroup of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI), to define early guidance for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) institutional practice and foster future comprehensive guidelines for its broad adoption in pediatric critical care medicine.
DESIGN: A modified Delphi method was used for creating the statements. The first meeting was an open proposal session for workgroup members to suggest items for consideration. This was followed by a cycle of voting for levels of agreement along a 7-point Likert-type scale. Items were reviewed, with only items receiving a score of greater than or equal to 6 progressing to the next stage of voting and lower-scoring items reconsidered, with only consensus items proceeding to the next stage for additional rounds of voting until consensus was reached.
SETTING: Multi-institutional, multidisciplinary, workgroup of experts on POCUS organized within PeRCCUS as a subgroup of PALISI.
INTERVENTIONS: None.
MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Consensus was obtained for 25 recommendations across five domains: clinical application, quality assurance, equipment, education, and research.
CONCLUSIONS: We report consensus recommendations for institutions on clinical use, educational programs, quality assurance, technical requirements, and future research opportunities for the adoption of pediatric critical care medicine POCUS.
Journal Title
Pediatric critical care medicine : a journal of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies
Volume
27
Issue
2
First Page
228
Last Page
234
MeSH Keywords
Humans; Point-of-Care Systems; Delphi Technique; Critical Care; Ultrasonography; Child; Pediatrics; Consensus; Practice Guidelines as Topic
PubMed ID
41642060
Keywords
best-practice; consensus guidelines; pediatrics; point-of-care; standards; ultrasound
Recommended Citation
Penk JS, Bhargava V, Chandnani H, et al. Good Practice Concepts in Pediatric Critical Care Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Modified Delphi Consensus Initiative. Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2026;27(2):228-234. doi:10.1097/PCC.0000000000003881
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