Prehospital and Emergency Care Perspectives to Define Pediatric Critical Illness and Injury

The authors aimed to explore clinician perspectives in prehospital and emergency settings to develop a consensus-driven definition of pediatric critical illness and injury, addressing the challenges of identifying critically ill children. Through qualitative interviews and focus groups, they identified key themes related to indicators of critical illness, perceptions of existing triage tools, and the variability in assessment approaches among different healthcare roles. The findings highlight significant gaps in current pediatric triage systems and emphasize the need for a multidisciplinary approach to improve decision-making in both prehospital and hospital environments.