Guidelines and research

Official guidance for paediatric critical care, the evidence behind it, and the latest PICU research.

Official guidance only: issued or endorsed by a recognised body (a society, national health body, WHO, NICE or a royal college) or a formally convened expert panel, with recommendations for practice. Always check the version your unit follows.

• Epilepsies in children, young people and adults (NICE guideline NG217)NICE2026Published 27 April 2022, last updated 5 August 2026
• Executive Summary of Society of Critical Care Medicine 2026 Guidelines on the Care and Management of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Patients at the End of Life.Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM)2026
• Medical Skills Curriculum for Interdisciplinary Neonatal Transport Teams: A European Delphi Consensus Study.Consensus statementActa Paediatrica2026Full text
• Diagnosis and management of Children with Post-Intensive Care Syndrome in Paediatrics: Clinical Practice Guidelines by the French National Authority for Health (HAS).Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS), France2026Full text
• ASH/ISTH 2026 guidelines for anticoagulant prophylaxis in pediatric patients at risk of venous thromboembolism.American Society of Hematology / ISTH2026Full text
• Standard Intravenous Concentrations in German Neonatal Intensive Care: Results of a National Consensus and Cross-Sectional Survey.Consensus statementGerman Society for Neonatology and Paediatric Intensive Care (GNPI) / ADKA2026Full text
• Consensus statement of the Paediatric Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy Section of the Polish Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy on the use of VV ECMO in paediatric patients for the treatment of acute respiratory failure.Consensus statementPolish Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Therapy (Paediatric Section)2026Full text
• Good practices for humanization in pediatric intensive care units: a national Delphi consensus study.Consensus statementIntensive & Critical Care Nursing (HU-CI Project, Spanish expert panel)2026Full text
• Society of Critical Care Medicine 2026 Guidelines on the Care and Management of Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care Patients at the End of Life.Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM/ACCM)2026
• Proposing Entrustable Professional Activities for Pediatric Critical Care Ultrasound: A Modified Delphi Consensus Approach.Consensus statementPediatric Research Collaborative on Critical Ultrasound (PeRCCUS/PALISI), Pediatric Critical Care Medicine2026
• Conservative management of pediatric patients with solid organ injury after blunt abdominal trauma. Consensus sponsored by the Spanish Society of Pediatric Surgery.Consensus statementSpanish Society of Pediatric Surgery (SECP)2026
• Clinical practice guidelines: management of non-post-operative supra-ventricular tachycardia in neonates and children less than 18 years old hospitalized in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.Groupe Francophone de Réanimation et Urgences Pédiatriques (GFRUP)2026Full text
• Ketogenic diet therapy for children with super-refractory status epilepticus in intensive care: International clinical practice recommendations.Consensus statementEpilepsia Open (international multidisciplinary expert panel)2026Full text
• Good Practice Concepts in Pediatric Critical Care Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Modified Delphi Consensus Initiative.Consensus statementPediatric Research Collaborative on Critical UltraSound (PeRCCUS/PALISI), Pediatric Critical Care Medicine2026
• Adapting Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines for Sedation, Analgesia, Withdrawal, and Delirium Assessment and Management in Critically Ill Children.Critical Care Research and Practice (institutional guideline adaptation panel)2026Full text
• Recommendations for the community-based management of prolonged convulsive seizures in children in Europe.Consensus statementBMC Pediatrics (European expert panel)2026Full text
• Ketogenic diet therapy for children with super-refractory status epilepticus in intensive care: International clinical practice recommendations.Consensus statementInternational consensus group (Epilepsia Open)2026Full text
• Consensus statement on the use of standardized early mobilization in pediatric patients admitted to pediatric intensive care units in Italy.Consensus statementItalian Society of Neonatal and Paediatric Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (SARNePI)2026
• A Modified Delphi Consensus-Based Comprehensive Checklist and Angoff Standard for Assessment of Competency in Brain Death/Death by Neurologic Criteria Determination.Consensus statementCritical Care Medicine (Delphi expert consensus panel)2026
• All India Difficult Airway Association 2025 guidelines for the management of unanticipated difficult airway in paediatrics under general anaesthesia.All India Difficult Airway Association (AIDAA)2025Full text
• International expert consensus statement on PICU admission and early critical care management for paediatric patients following haematopoietic cell transplant and immune effector cell therapy.Consensus statementESPNIC / PALISI / EBMT2025
• Care of Infants and Children with Tracheostomies: An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline.American Thoracic Society2025Full text
• Guidelines for the management of emergencies and critical illness in pediatric and adult patients with sickle cell disease.Annals of Intensive Care (French expert panel)2025Full text
• Expert consensus‑based clinical practice guidelines for nutritional support in the intensive care unit: the French Intensive Care Society (SRLF) and the French-Speaking Group of Pediatric Emergency Physicians and Intensivists (GFRUP).French Intensive Care Society (SRLF) / GFRUP2025Full text
• Framework for Kidney Health Follow-Up Among Neonates With Critical Cardiac Disease: A Report From the Neonatal Kidney Health Consensus Workshop.Consensus statementNeonatal Kidney Health Consensus Workshop (NIH-supported)2025Full text
• Consensus Recommendations of the Academic College of Emergency Experts in India on the Evaluation and Management of Polytrauma in Children Presenting to the Emergency Department in India.Consensus statementAcademic College of Emergency Experts in India (ACEE)2025Full text
• European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2025 Paediatric Life Support.European Resuscitation Council2025
• Guidelines for the use of lung ultrasound to optimise the management of neonatal respiratory distress: international expert consensus.Consensus statementBMC Medicine (international expert Delphi panel)2025Full text
• Expert consensus on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of respiratory syncytial virus infections in children.Consensus statementWorld Journal of Pediatrics (multidisciplinary expert consensus group)2024Full text
• Nutrition in Critically Ill Children with AKI on Continuous RRT: Consensus Recommendations.Consensus statementKidney360 (multidisciplinary paediatric nephrology and nutrition expert panel)2024Full text
• BSPED Guideline for the Management of Children and Young People under the age of 18 years with Diabetic KetoacidosisBritish Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED)20242021 guideline, reference document last updated 26/11/2024
• Suspected sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management (NICE guideline NG51)NICE2024Published 13 July 2016, last updated 19 March 2024; now replaced by NG253, NG254 and NG255
• Pediatric AKI in the real world: changing outcomes through education and advocacy-a report from the 26th Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) consensus conference.Consensus statementAcute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI)2024Full text
• Guideline on management of pneumonia and diarrhoea in children up to 10 years of ageWorld Health Organization2024Full text
• Epidemiology of acute kidney injury in children: a report from the 26th Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) consensus conference.Consensus statementAcute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI)2024Full text
• Airway management in neonates and infants: European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care and British Journal of Anaesthesia joint guidelines.European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) / British Journal of Anaesthesia2024Full text
• Management of Bleeding and Thrombotic Complications During Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: The Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Anticoagulation CollaborativE Consensus Conference.Consensus statementPediatric ECMO Anticoagulation CollaborativE (PEACE), Pediatric Critical Care Medicine2024Full text
• Executive Summary: The Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Anticoagulation CollaborativE (PEACE) Consensus Conference.Consensus statementPediatric ECMO Anticoagulation CollaborativE (PEACE), SCCM2024Full text
• Anticoagulation Monitoring and Targets: The Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Anticoagulation CollaborativE Consensus Conference.Consensus statementPediatric ECMO Anticoagulation CollaborativE (PEACE), PCCM/SCCM2024Full text
• Anticoagulant Medications: The Pediatric Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Anticoagulation CollaborativE Consensus Conference.Consensus statementPediatric ECMO Anticoagulation CollaborativE (PEACE), PCCM/SCCM2024Full text
• Programs and processes for advancing pediatric acute kidney support therapy in hospitalized and critically ill children: a report from the 26th Acute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI) consensus conference.Consensus statementAcute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI)2024Full text
• 2023 International Consensus on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care Science With Treatment Recommendations: Summary From the Basic Life Support; Advanced Life Support; Pediatric Life Support; Neonatal Life Support; Education, Implementation, and Teams; and First Aid Task Forces.Consensus statementInternational Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR)2023Full text
• Executive Summary of the Second International Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (PALICC-2).Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC-2)2023Full text
• Diabetes (type 1 and type 2) in children and young people: diagnosis and management (NICE guideline NG18)NICE2023Published August 2015, last updated 11 May 2023; reviewed December 2025 with no change to recommendations
• Head injury: assessment and early management (NICE guideline NG232)NICE2023Published 18 May 2023; last reviewed 18 May 2023; updates and replaces CG176 (2014)
• National Paediatric Early Warning System (PEWS) for EnglandNHS England (SPOT programme, with RCPCH and RCN)2023
• UPDATE - 2022 Italian guidelines on the management of bronchiolitis in infants.Italian Society of Pediatrics (Italian Journal of Pediatrics)2023Full text
• Chinese expert consensus on the Management of Pediatric Deep Partial-Thickness Burn Wounds (2023 edition).Consensus statementChinese expert committee (Burns & Trauma)2023Full text
• ESPNIC clinical practice guidelines: intravenous maintenance fluid therapy in acute and critically ill children- a systematic review and meta-analysis.ESPNIC2022Full text
• Consensus-Based Recommendations on Priority Activities to Address Acute Kidney Injury in Children: A Modified Delphi Consensus Statement.Consensus statementAcute Disease Quality Initiative (ADQI)2022Full text
• 2022 Society of Critical Care Medicine Clinical Practice Guidelines on Prevention and Management of Pain, Agitation, Neuromuscular Blockade, and Delirium in Critically Ill Pediatric Patients With Consideration of the ICU Environment and Early Mobility.Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM)2022
• ISPAD clinical practice consensus guidelines 2022: Diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state.ISPAD2022
• Surfactant therapies for pediatric and neonatal ARDS: ESPNIC expert consensus opinion for future research steps.Consensus statementESPNIC2021Full text
• European Resuscitation Council Guidelines 2021: Paediatric Life Support.European Resuscitation Council2021
• Part 4: Pediatric Basic and Advanced Life Support 2020 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care.American Heart Association2021
• Sustainable Neonatal CLABSI Surveillance: Consensus Toward New Criteria in the NetherlandsConsensus statementWorking Group on Neonatal Infectious Diseases, Dutch Paediatric Society2021Full text
• Bronchiolitis in children: diagnosis and management (NICE guideline NG9)NICE2021Published June 2015, last updated 9 August 2021
• International Consensus Recommendations for the Treatment of Pediatric NMDAR Antibody Encephalitis.Consensus statementInternational NMDARE Consensus Panel (Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation)2021Full text
• COVID-19 PICU guidelines: for high- and limited-resource settings.International PICU COVID-19 Collaboration (Pediatric Research)2020Over 5 years oldFull text
• Quality and capacity indicators for hospitalized pediatric oncology patients with critical illness: A modified delphi consensus.Consensus statementCancer Medicine (international modified Delphi expert panel)2020Over 5 years oldFull text