Paediatric Critical Care Implementation in Lower-Resource Settings: Application of Community-Based Group Model Building.

OBJECTIVES

Given the significant burden of critical illness and high mortality in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMICs), ICU care could substantially improve patient outcomes in LMICs. No systematic approach is available to identify the perceived and actual challenges of developing and maintaining high-quality intensive care units in LMICs. This study aimed to use community-based group model building (GMB) as an intervention to evaluate the barriers and facilitators of establishing a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in LMIC.

DESIGN

A GMB workshop was conducted with 27 participants, representing all the stakeholders. The workshop objectives were: assess GMB as a tool for implementation planning in a lower resource clinical care setting; assess barriers and facilitators of PICU implementation as perceived by conference attendees; develop a shared vision for goals, processes, and challenges for the PICU.

SETTING

PICU at the Mercy James Center for Paediatric Surgery and Critical Care (MJC) within the established system of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, Malawi.