ArticleNursing in critical care2025
Identifying Low Value Care Practices in UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units in 2025: A Delphi Study.
Article in Nursing in critical care, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Guidelines for Verification of Gastric Tube Location in Adult Hospitalised Patients: A Systematic Review.Nursing in critical care · 2026Pooled it
- Identifying Low Value Care Practices in UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units in 2025: A Delphi Study.Nursing in critical care · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLow-value care, is care that is ineffective, inefficiently delivered or unwanted and is common in high income settings. The United Kingdom (UK) Paediatric Critical Care Society (PCCS) established a de-implementation working group in October 2024.
aimThe aim of the study was to identify and then prioritise low-value care practices for de-implementation across UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) over the next 5 years and to ascertain which practices staff would be prepared to de-implement based on current evidence, and for which further evidence is required. STUDY
designA modified three round Delphi study was undertaken between December 2024 and May 2025. In Round 1, PICUs submitted their top low-value care practices. These were entered into an electronic survey (Round 2) for prioritisation. These were analysed according to a predefined consensus definition. The final survey (Round 3), including these items, plus any new items suggested at Round 2, were re-ranked considering the group mean score.
resultsThirty-seven items were submitted from 16 PICUs (these were unit responses) in Round 1. One hundred thirty-five staff completed Round 2, and 14 of these 37 items met the criteria for inclusion in Round 3. Five new items were added to Round 3. One hundred eighteen staff voted on 19 items in Round 3. The top five practices ranked by mean score were (1) overprescribing of medications and not deprescribing them once not required, (2) fasting children for prolonged periods after extubation, (3) unnecessary use of non-sterile gloves, (4) continuing hourly observations in ward-ready patients and (5) taking routine blood tests.
conclusionsThis is the first study to gain consensus on low-value care practices to be de-implemented in UK PICUs. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Low-value care practices are wasteful, both financially and environmentally, and impact on healthcare professionals' workload. Identification of these practices will enable future work to de-implement them.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.