: Injuries are the most important cause of death, morbidity and acquired disability during childhood and adolescence. Over the last 30 years, trauma systems have been developed to improve the outcomes from trauma. Data are now available to indicate that trauma center care improves survival for adult trauma patients, but pediatric trauma care has been much less studied. One of the most important questions is to determine the optimal structure for a pediatric trauma program. The optimal structure of pediatric trauma care is also intimately related to the goals of improving patient safety. The conference on pediatric trauma care will bring together experts and researchers in a variety of fields to develop a research agenda to address the limitations of prior studies of and provide definitive answers to the national questions on pediatric trauma care. We intend to gather experts from across the country in a wide variety of specialties to come together to review the current state of knowledge about pediatric trauma care and to develop an innovative, collaborative research agenda to improve this care. The conference goals of developing a pediatric trauma care research agenda are totally consistent with the three strategic goals of AHRQ to: improve health outcomes, strengthen quality measurement and improvement, and identify strategies to improve access and reduce costs. We will commission """"""""white papers"""""""" on the various aspects of key topics described above and have these white papers presented at the meeting, followed by extensive discussion among conference participants. The authors of these white papers will represent a multidisciplinary group of individuals who constitute the recognized experts in the US on the respective topics. The papers will be based on systematic reviews and prior research. The major product of this conference will be a research agenda for pediatric trauma care and be disseminated through a supplement to a peer reviewed journal, presentations and websites. The products of this conference will be of critical use to researchers, potential funding agencies, and policy makers. For researchers, it will define the important questions and best approaches to answering key questions in pediatric trauma. For funding agencies, the conference will provide a guide to the development of future RFAs in acute care pediatric trauma research. Finally, the products of this conference will allow policy makers to better understand the strength, or lack, of evidence for current trauma policy and how research might be used to guide future policy.
