Enhancing the experience and outcomes of children with complex care needs in acute paediatric settings: a realist review protocol

IntroductionThe number of babies, children and young people with complex care needs (henceforth children with complex care needs (CCCN)) in England has increased in recent decades, and this has also been recognised globally. CCCN may have frequent and lengthy hospital admissions, but during these episodes, their needs are not always met, potentially resulting in suboptimal experiences and outcomes. Despite increased numbers of CCCN accessing acute care and displaying greater complexity, much of the contemporary literature has focused on primary care coordination between health, education and social care. Research specifically focused on CCCN in the acute care setting is largely absent. This realist review aims to understand how optimal experience and outcomes are achieved for CCCN during acute care, in different settings, for whom and why.Methods and analysisThis realist review will proceed through six steps: (1) clarifying the scope of the review, (2) searching for evidence, (3) data selection and quality appraisal, (4) data extraction, (5) analysis and synthesis and (6) dissemination. We will search Medline, Cumulated Index in Nursing and Allied Health Literature and PsycINFO, alongside grey literature and other sources and will carry out citation tracking. Patient and public involvement and engagement have aided in the development of this protocol and will be maintained through regular consultations with a stakeholder group throughout the review. The review will result in a programme theory which will include context-mechanism-outcome configurations and provide data to support claims of generative causation.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required for this review as it does not involve primary research. The programme theory developed will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and relevant conferences. It will subsequently inform the development of an intervention to improve acute care for CCCN.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42024591231.