Development of a Tool to Evaluate Emotional Support for Patients and Families During Simulated Pediatric Resuscitations: A Modified Delphi Study.

Abstract

Background: Families overwhelmingly want to be present during pediatric resuscitations, and their presence offers myriad benefits. However, there is little evidence on how to teach and assess key patient- and family-centered communication behaviors. Our objective was to apply a modified Delphi methodology to develop and refine a simulation-based assessment tool focusing on crucial behaviors for healthcare providers providing emotional support to patients and families during pediatric medical resuscitations.

Methods: We identified 4 behavioral domains and 14 subdomains through a literature review, focus groups with our institution's Family and Youth Advisory Councils, and adaptation of existing simulation-based communication assessment tools. A panel of 9 national experts conducted rounds of iterative revision and rating of candidate behaviors for inclusion, and we calculated mean approval ratings (1 = Do not include; 2 = Include with modifications; 3 = Include as is) for each subdomain.

Results: Experts engaged in 5 iterative rounds of revision. None of the candidate behaviors were eliminated, and 1 ("Option to step out") was added to the "Respect and Value" domain. There was near-perfect consensus on the language of the final tool, with mean approval scores of 3.0 for all but 1 subdomain ("Introductions"), which had a mean score of 2.83 for minor grammatical edits; these were incorporated in the final assessment tool.

Conclusions: We created a novel simulation assessment tool based on a literature review, key stakeholder input, and a consensus of national experts through a modified Delphi method. Our final simulation assessment tool is behaviorally anchored, can be completed by a simulated participant or observer, and may serve to educate healthcare teams engaged in pediatric resuscitations regarding patient- and family-centered communication.