Parents’ prioritised outcomes for trials investigatingtreatments for paediatric severe infection : aqualitative synthesis

Objective To identify parents’ prioritised outcomes bycombining qualitative findings from two trial feasibilitystudies of interventions for paediatric suspected severeinfection.Design Qualitative synthesis combining parentinterview data from the Fluids in Shock (FiSh) and Feverfeasibility studies. Parents had experience of their childbeing admitted to a UK emergency department orintensive care unit with a suspected infection.Participants n=: 85 parents. FiSh study: n=41 parents,37 mothers, 4 fathers, 7 were bereaved. Fever study:n=44 parents, 33 mothers, 11 fathers, 7 were bereaved.Results In addition to survival, parents prioritisedshort-term outcomes including: organ and physiologicalfunctioning (eg, heart rate, breathing rate andtemperature); their child looking and/or behaving morelike their normal self; and length of time on treatmentsor mechanical support. Longer term prioritisedoutcomes included effects of illness on child health anddevelopment. We found that parents’ prioritisation ofoutcomes was influenced by their experience of theirchild’s illness, survival and the point at which they areasked about outcomes of importance in the course oftheir child’s illness.Conclusions Findings provide insight into parentprioritised outcomes to inform the design of futuretrials investigating treatments for paediatric suspectedor proven severe infection as well as core outcome setdevelopment wor