Pediatr Crit Care Med. 2026 Feb 1;27(2):228-234. doi: 10.1097/PCC.0000000000003881. Epub 2026 Feb 5.
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.
PMID:41642060 | DOI:10.1097/PCC.0000000000003881