Table 3.
Rank, evaluation criteria scores, research priority scores, and average expert agreement for top ten questions in high income countries with complete surveys only (n = 18-33; varies by question)
| Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research question |
Does accreditation or regulation of private clinical and non-clinical sources of care improve IMCI diagnosis, treatment, and appropriateness of testing and prescription? |
Can tools (eg,flipchart, decision tree, and other job aids) used by private providers/pharmacies/drug shops improve adherence to child health protocols (diarrhea and pneumonia management, malaria treatment, and nutritional screening and counseling? |
What is the effectiveness of training private sector medicine vendors (ie, private drug shops, pharmacists, chemists, patent medicine vendors, etc.) to recognize, manage and/or refer sick young infants? |
Can government medicine regulatory authorities improve the quality of antimalarial medicines and antibiotics distributed by private drug shops or their equivalent through the use of periodic audits with a portable device to assess drug quality? |
Can supportive supervision lead to improved quality of care in the private sector? |
What are the key drivers of appropriate and inappropriate antimalarial and antibiotic prescription for children in private-for-profit sources of care by type of provider? |
Can the iCCM approach be used in private non-clinical sources of care at scale to provide quality, appropriate, affordable, and accessible care? |
What are the referral pathways in the private sector and what factors contribute to appropriate referrals to or from private sector providers? |
What is the effect of social franchising with iCCM on access to child health care and outcomes? |
What factors contribute to private provider adherence to IMCI protocols? |
|
|
Evaluation criteria: | |||||||||||
| Answerability Question 1 Score: Single studies or small number of studies? |
76 |
79 |
78 |
79 |
76 |
75 |
69 |
73 |
70 |
77 |
|
| Answerability Question 2 Score: Measurable outcome indicators? |
86 |
87 |
85 |
86 |
84 |
81 |
78 |
76 |
77 |
82 |
|
| Research Feasibility Priority Score: Feasible to design and conduct study? |
80 |
86 |
79 |
83 |
83 |
82 |
78 |
78 |
75 |
80 |
|
| Sustainability and Equity Question 1 Score: Results in sustainable intervention/ strategy to implement within context of private sector? |
85 |
84 |
79 |
79 |
79 |
80 |
77 |
78 |
79 |
78 |
|
| Sustainability and Equity Question 2 Score: Results in scalable intervention/ strategy to implement within context of private sector? |
86 |
84 |
76 |
78 |
73 |
77 |
78 |
76 |
79 |
74 |
|
| Sustainability and Equity Question 3 Score: Results lead to intervention/strategy that strengthens partnerships between private sector and government? |
83 |
66 |
75 |
72 |
73 |
70 |
75 |
79 |
72 |
68 |
|
| Sustainability and Equity Question 4 Score: Results lead to more equitable outcomes? |
73 |
66 |
77 |
71 |
68 |
69 |
79 |
71 |
76 |
66 |
|
| Importance and Potential Impact Question 1 Score:Results fill an important knowledge gap? |
82 |
74 |
81 |
79 |
77 |
81 |
79 |
82 |
80 |
77 |
|
| Importance and Potential Impact Question 2 Score: Results inform future policy and practice? |
84 |
78 |
82 |
79 |
81 |
78 |
81 |
79 |
79 |
77 |
|
| Importance and Potential Impact Question 3 Score: Results relevant to at least one aspect of private sector across range of low- and middle-income countries? |
83 |
81 |
81 |
80 |
78 |
76 |
79 |
78 |
77 |
79 |
|
| Importance and Potential Impact Question 4 Score: Will the results from the research help to strengthen quality of care provided by private health providers |
85 |
88 |
80 |
82 |
85 |
85 |
79 |
78 |
75 |
83 |
|
| Research Priority Score (interquartile range) |
82.1 (80.0-85.0) |
79.4 (74.2-85.6) |
79.4 (76.7-81.3) |
79.0 (78.1-81.9) |
77.9 (73.1-82.6) |
77.8 (74.8-81.3) |
77.5 (76.9-79.4) |
77.1 (75.8-78.8) |
76.5 (75.3-79.4) |
76.5 (74.4-80.0) |
|
| Average Expert Agreement | 55 | 53 | 41 | 50 | 46 | 50 | 43 | 41 | 47 | 47 | |
IMCI – integrated management of childhood illness, iCCM – integrated community case management