Developing templates for uniform data documentation and reporting in critical care using a modified nominal group technique

Hans Morten Lossius, Andreas J Krüger, Kjetil Gorseth Ringdal, Stephen JM Sollid, David J Lockey

Clinical practice in trauma and critical care is predominantly derived from quantitative observational cohort studies based on data retrospectively collected from medical records. Such data create uncontrolled bias and influence external and internal validity, thereby hindering systematic reviews. Templates or standards for uniform documenting and scientific reporting may result in high quality and internationally standardised data being collected on a regular basis, enhance large international multi-centre studies, and increase the quality of evidence. Templates or standards may be developed using multidisciplinary expert panel consensus methods.We present three consensus processes aimed at developing templates for documenting and scientific reporting. We discuss the advantages, limitations, and possible future improvements of our method.