A European Society of Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC) survey of European critical care management of young people.

Adolescents have specific healthcare needs distinct from adults or younger children secondary to anatomical, physiological and socio-behavioural differences. Healthcare providers have been slow to address this, leading the UK Department of Health (2011) to publish 'You're Welcome' quality criteria for services for young people. (In the UK, the term young people is preferred to adolescent.) These generic criteria poorly fit the critical care environment, omitting key issues whilst insisting upon irrelevant standards. But as young people are infrequent patients for any individual unit, the research base to guide optimal management is poor and we could find no international or national guidance. Together with the hospital's young people's group, our intensive care team identified six areas important for critically ill young people, which are the 6Ps: privacy, permission, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis, personal life, puberty and practical issues. We then surveyed practice across Europe regarding these themes. Fifty-four hospitals from 16 countries participated, demonstrating disparate practice and widely differing policies to meet the requirements of critically ill young people.

conclusionThere is little consistency of practice in some areas such as pregnancy testing, DVT prophylaxis or partner visiting, whereas in others, such as involving young people in healthcare decisions where possible, practice is consistently good. Further research should focus on the young people's experience of critical care to refine healthcare policy. What is Known: • Adolescents have distinct health and psychosocial needs that are often poorly catered for in contemporary healthcare settings, including critical care. • As adolescents are infrequent patients for any intensive care unit, there is a poor research base and essentially no guidance, regarding optimal care. What is New: • We developed a mnemonic with adolescents and ICU staff to improve healthcare delivery to young people in critical care, the 6Ps: privacy, permission, DVT prophylaxis, personal life, puberty and practical issues. • Delivery of the adolescents' critical care varies greatly both between and within countries; the 6Ps offers a method of standardising and improving this across different countries.