High-quality care for all children with cancer

Abstract

Background: Providing high-quality care for children with cancer could improve treatment outcomes, survival and quality of life of the children and parents. The aim of this study is to select high-quality care recommendations for all children with cancer based on literature and consensus for future development of quality indicators. Materials and methods: We performed an extensive search in databases for scientific literature and in websites of international health care and guideline development organizations to create an inventory of recommendations for the care for all children with cancer. The RAND modified Delphi method was used to grade and select recommendations for high-quality care. Results: Our search resulted in a list of 131 recommendations on care for all children with cancer. The expert panel graded, discussed and prioritized these recommendations. Analysis of these ratings resulted ultimately in a list of 109 high-quality care recommendations for all children with cancer, including 31 prioritized recommendations. Conclusions: This study defines a set of high-quality care recommendations based on literature and consensus. These recommendations provide a basis for the development of a comprehensive set of quality indicators to evaluate care in paediatric oncology. © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved.