Giving Children a Voice in Paediatric Anaesthesia (TR-VP26)

Patient, Parent and Clinician Voices - Establishing National and International Research Priorities for Paediatric Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine

This project will identify the research priorities for paediatric anaesthesia and perioperative medicine in participating countries and highlight areas where further research and information can be provided to optimise the experience of children undergoing medical interventions.

This is expected to have significant positive impacts on patient and family engagement and interest in research within the community and aids to plan patient/ family-centred studies.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Anxiety; Pediatric Anesthesia; Pain Management; Perioperative Care; Research Subjects; Research Agenda

Detailed Description

Prospective online surveys will be conducted to generate national priority research topics. Three separate series of surveys will be conducted:

1. Children and young people aged 6 to 16 years of age
2. Parents and caregivers
3. Clinicians

The first round of surveys will be broad idea generating surveys. The survey will consist of a short introduction and demographic questions followed by space to input three free text suggestions for research topics. In order not to bias the suggestions, we will not provide any examples of thematic prompts, research ideas will be entirely de novo. These surveys will be open for three months.

A second round of online surveys will then be conducted to prioritise national longlist of research ideas. Respondents will be asked to pick what they consider to be the 10 most important research ideas from the longlist.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Estimated): 1040

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Thomas Riva, Prof. Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 31 632 2725; Email: thomas.riva@insel.ch
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Viktoria A. Pfeifle, Dr. med; Phone Number: +41 31 632 21 11; Email: viktoria.pfeifle@insel.ch

Study Locations

• Switzerland
  • Canton Ticino
    • Bellinzona, Canton Ticino, Switzerland, 6500
      • Ospedale regionale Bellinzona
      • Contact: Alessandro Genini, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 91 811 91 11; Email: alessandro.genini@eoc.ch
  • Canton of Aargau
    • Aarau, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland, 5001
      • KSA
      • Contact: Lorenz Theiler, Prof. Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 62 838 45 81; Email: lorenz.theiler@ksa.ch
  • Canton of Basel-City
    • Basel, Canton of Basel-City, Switzerland, 4001
      • UKBB
      • Contact: Karin Becke, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 61 704 12 12; Email: karin.becke-jakob@ukbb.ch
  • Canton of Bern
    • Bern, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, 3010
      • Inselspital Bern
      • Contact: Viktoria A. Pfeifle, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 31 632 2111; Email: viktoria.pfeifle@insel.ch
  • Canton of Fribourg
    • Fribourg, Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland, 1708
      • HFR
      • Contact: Beatrice Arroyo, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 26 306 33 10; Email: beatrice.arroyo@h-fr.ch
  • Canton of Geneva
    • Geneva, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, 1205
      • HUG
      • Contact: Laszlo Vutskits, Prof. Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 79 55 334 62; Email: laszlo.vutskits@hcuge.ch
  • Canton of Lucerne
    • Lucerne, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, 6000
      • LUKS
      • Contact: Martin Hölzle, Dr. med.; Phone Number: +41 41 205 11 11; Email: martin.hoelzle@luks.ch

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participating hospitals in Switzerland

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients aged 6-16 years
• Caregivers of patients aged 6-16 years
• Clinicians working in paediatric perioperative medicine

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients <6 and >16 years
• Residence not in Switzerland
• Inability to understand one of the 3 study languages (german, french, italian)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

3

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Patients; Children aged 6-16 years that require a surgical procedure
Healthcare providers; Healthcare providers working in pediatric perioperative medicine that are part of the multidisciplinary team of professionals who care for children before (preoperative), during (intraoperative), and after (postoperative) a surgical or diagnostic procedure. They can be nurses, doctors.
Parents; Parents of the children requiring a surgical procedure

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Consensus-ranked list of top 10 research priorities for paediatric anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine among children and young people aged 6-16 years, parents and clinicians.	The number and rank order of research priorities identified and agreed upon by children, parents and clinicians, as determined by a prioritisation process. Priorities will be gathered via structured online surveys. The outcome is expressed as a ranked list of 10 discrete research topics, ordered by level of group consensus agreement; results are reported as the proportion (%) of participants selecting each topic as a priority, used to generate a ranked top 10 list	1 year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Degree of agreement between child/young person-identified priorities and those identified by parents/carers and clinicians	Whether child-identified priorities differ from those identified by parents/carers and clinicians and if these priorities differed from those previously identified by parents/carers and clinicians in equivalent Australian studies.	1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern
• Collaborators: University Hospital, Geneva; Kantonsspital Aarau; Luzerner Kantonsspital; University Children's Hospital Basel; Ospedale Regionale Bellinzona e Valli; Hospital Fribourg, Switzerland
• Investigators: Study Director: Thomas Riva, Prof. Dr. med., Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, Department Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): April 27, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): September 30, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 1, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 9, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: survey; pediatric anesthesia; patient perspective; perioperative medicine; parent perspective; research priorities
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Mental Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Perceptual Disorders; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Signs and Symptoms; Anxiety Disorders; Agnosia
• Other Study ID Numbers: Riva-Pfeifle-2026; KOFAM (Other Identifier: Swiss Federal Office of Public Health)

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No