First name
Emily
Last name
Eresuma

Title

Methodological quality of national guidelines for pediatric inpatient conditions.

Year of Publication

2014

Number of Pages

384-90

Date Published

2014 Jun

ISSN Number

1553-5606

Abstract

<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>Guidelines help inform standardization of care for quality improvement (QI). The Pediatric Research in Inpatient Settings network published a prioritization list of inpatient conditions with high prevalence, cost, and variation in resource utilization across children's hospitals. The methodological quality of guidelines for priority conditions is unknown.</p>

<p><strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>To rate the methodological quality of national guidelines for 20 priority pediatric inpatient conditions.</p>

<p><strong>DESIGN: </strong>We searched sources including PubMed for national guidelines published from 2002 to 2012. Guidelines specific to 1 organism, test or treatment, or institution were excluded. Guidelines were rated by 2 raters using a validated tool (Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation) with an overall rating on a 7-point scale (7 = the highest). Inter-rater reliability was measured with a weighted kappa coefficient.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>Seventeen guidelines met inclusion criteria for 13 conditions; 7 conditions yielded no relevant national guidelines. The highest methodological-quality guidelines were for asthma, tonsillectomy, and bronchiolitis (mean overall rating 7, 6.5, and 6.5, respectively); the lowest were for sickle cell disease (2 guidelines) and dental caries (mean overall rating 4, 3.5, and 3, respectively). The overall weighted kappa was 0.83 (95% confidence interval 0.78-0.87).</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>We identified a group of moderate to high methodological-quality national guidelines for priority pediatric inpatient conditions. Hospitals should consider these guidelines to inform QI initiatives.</p>

DOI

10.1002/jhm.2187

Alternate Title

J Hosp Med

PMID

24677729

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